tihvavy  of  Che  t:heolo;gical  ^emino 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


•d^D* 


PRESENTED  BY 

Rufus  H.   LeFevre 


f 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 


Books  by  Elmer  U.  Hoenshel 


MY  THREE  DAYS  IN  GILEAD.    Illustrated. 

Cloth — 50  cents. 
Parchment — 30  cents. 

BY  THE  OVERFLOWING  NILE.    Illustrated. 

Cloth— 75  cenU. 
Parchment — 50  cents. 


By  The 
Overflowing  Nile 


BY 

/ 

ELMER  U.  HOENSHEU  D.  D. 


Sfuthor  of 

"My  Three  Days  In  Gilead" 


THE  OTTERBEIN  PRESS 
Dayton,  Ohio 


Copyright,  1910,  by 

Ellmer  U.  Hoenshel 

Dayton,  Virginia 


In  grateful  recognition  of  comradeship, 
this  little  volume  is  ascribed  to 

Lot  Abraham 

who,  though  much  my  senior  in  years. 

was  a  companionable  and  faithful  friend 

during  my  entire  pilgrimage  by 

the  Overflowing  Nile. 

THE  AUTHOR 


^  ^  *»arci 


INTRODUCTION 

I  have  no  apology  to  make  for  writing  this 
book.     I    simply   wanted   to   write    the 

story  of  my  itinerary  in  Egypt,  and 
of  my  impressions  gained  in  that  land  of 
the  marvelous  in  nature  and  art.  And, 
in  "By  the  Overflowing  Nile,"  I  propose  to 
take  the  reader  by  various  means  of  travel 
through  cities  modern  and  ancient;  into 
temples  the  admiration  of  the  ages;  into 
tombs  of  fellahin,  royalty  and  divinity;  to 
the  top  and  to  the  center  of  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid; to  the  Sphinx; — and  to  recite  experi- 
ences incident  to  my  own  investigations  made 
a  few  years  ago. 

Not  all  of  the  places  visited  will  be  new 
to  the  reader;  but  if  my  written  story  will 
command  the  degree  of  fascinated  attention 
from  the  reader  that  my  spoken  story  from 
the  public  platform  has  secured  from  my 
auditors,  then  my  ambition  will  be  realized 
and  my  gratification  will  be  complete. 

Dayton,   Virginia, 
April  13,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  I.     Going  down  to  Egypt. ...  11 

Chapter  II.    Where  Israel  Slaved 17 

Chapter  III.  Cairo 29 

Chapter  IV.  The  Great  Pyramid 

1.  In  General 39 

2.  My  Ascent 47 

3.  Exploring  the  Interior  55 

Chapter  V.    The  Sphinx 64 

Chapter  VI.  Memphis    and    the    Sera- 

paeum 70 

Chapter  VII.  By  Rail  to  Thebes 84 

Chapter  VIII.  The  Valley  of  the  Tombs 

of  the  Kings 93 

Chapter  IX.   The   Ramesseum  and  the 

Sitting  Colossi 108 

Chapter  X.     Karnak   and    Luxor 120 

Chapter  XL  Leaving  Egypt 130 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The    Author Frontispiece 

Map  of  Egypt 10 

(Showing  the  Author's  tour) 

A  near  view  of  the  Great  Pyramid 39 

Climbing  the  Great  Pyramid 47 

Sketch  showing  the  interior  arrangement 

of  the  Great  Pyramid 56 

The  ''Coffer"  in  the  Great  Pyramid 61 

The  Sphinx 67 

Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx 71 

Sketch  showing  locations  of  the  ruins  of 

ancient  Thebes 92 

The  Ground  Plan  of  the  Ramesseum.. .  .  Ill 

The  Sitting  Colossi 117 

The  Approach  to  Karnak 121 

The  Ground  Plan  of  the  Temple  of  Luxor  126 


^>- 


cooing;  SDoton  tc  (f  gppt 

CHAPTER  I. 

Just  as  twilight  deepened  into  dark  on  a 
November  evening  after  I  had  said  good-by 
to  the  dragoman  who  had  guided  me  so  faith- 
fully and  so  well  throughout  the  Holy  Land, 
and  while  I  was  seated  on  the  rear  deck  of 
the  great  vessel  that  was  carrying  me  to 
Egypt,  and  when  it  had  grown  too  dark  to 
distinguish  objects  on  land,  I  looked  up  out  of 
my  dreamy  m.editation  and  saw  a  man,  fully 
six  feet  tall,  rather  slender,  and  apparently 
about  sixty  years  of  age,  standing  before  me. 
"Surely  a  tourist,"  I  thought. 

He  wanted  to  be  friendly ;  I  was  reserved — 
have  always  tried  to  be  discreetly  so,  espe- 
cially with  strangers.    Said  he: 

"Have  we  not  met  before?'' 

I  was  not  certain  about  it,  but  his  face  did 
seem  slightly  familiar. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "I  met  you  last  Friday,  in 
the  Jews'  Wailing  Place,  at  Jerusalem.     My 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

name  is  Abraham — Lot  Abraham.  And  what 
is  yours?" 

"Lot  Abraham!"  I  said,  not  immediately 
answering  his  question,  for  the  name  half 
amused  and  wholly  interested  me. 

"Yes,  that  is  my  name.  I  am  an  American ; 
my  former  home  was  in  Iowa,  but  my  present 
home  is  in  Ohio.  And  now  may  I  be  in- 
formed as  to  who  you  are  and  where  you 
live?" 

Then  I  told  him  my  name  and  place  of  resi- 
dence, and  added: 

"But  Mr.  Abraham,  pardon  me,  your  name 
sounds  familiarly  strange  to  me ;  I  have  known 
the  names  all  my  life,  but  the  original  owners 
were  so  different  in  disposition  that  I  never 
expected  to  find  the  same  man  bearing  both 
names.    Say,  are  you  a  Jew?" 

"No;  but  over  here  in  Palestine  there  is  a 
place  sacred  to  Mohammedans  that  I  wanted 
to  see;  but  when  they  learned  my  name,  they 
said  I  was  a  Jew  and  drove  me  away." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "where  is  Abraham  going 
now  ?" 

"Down  to  Egypt." 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "and  again,  after  four 
thousand  years,  it  may  be  said  of  this  trip, 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

also,  'and  Lot  went  with  him.*  And,  further, 
I  too  am  going  down  to  Egypt,  and  history 
may  record  it  of  me,  that  'Lot  Abraham  went 
with  him/  '* 

Only  a  few  hours  had  passed  since  my 
dragoman  had  signaled  farewell  and  had  gone 
quietly  but  surely  forever  out  of  my  life  as  a 
visible  director,  and  I  was  sad  and  lonely  at 
the  thought.  But  here,  already,  stands  another 
at  my  side — not  a  guide,  nor  one  seeking 
guidance,  but  a  traveler  seeking  companion- 
ship.   I  felt  intuitively  that  I  could  trust  him. 

Together  we  sat  and  talked  on  into  the 
darkness.  The  night  was  ideal.  The  sea  had 
calmed,  but  far  in  the  northwest  occasional 
flashing  sheets  of  light  indicated  that  yonder 
somewhere  was  unrest.  But  here,  silent,  star- 
gemmed,  sweet  night !  The  breeze  that  fanned 
our  temples  seemed  telling  a  story  of  a  thou- 
sand centuries  and  bearing  the  fragrance  of  a 
flowering  world.  How  far-reaching  is  the  in- 
fluence of  such  a  night  on  a  meditative,  sensi- 
tive soul,  who  can  tell !  And  here  was  the 
beginning  of  a  friendship  that  I  value  highly. 

Mr.  Abraham  volunteered  the  outline  of  his 
life-story,  which,  in  the  days  that  followed, 
was  filled  in  with  incidents  told  by  him  suffi- 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

cient  for  me  to  sum  up  the  following  concern- 
ing him:  He  was  born  in  1837;  entered  the 
Civil  Vv^ar  as  a  cavalryman  in  the  Union 
Army;  participated  in  an  even  hundred  en- 
gagements, including  skirmishes ;  was  never 
seriously  wounded;  came  out  of  the  army  a 
captain ;  served  as  Senator  of  Iowa ;  lost  the 
wife  of  his  youth  in  a  tragic  runaway  while 
he  was  absent  from  his  home;  remarried; 
prospered  as  a  farmer;  and  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three  had  undertaken  an  extensive  tour 
of  Europe  and  the  Orient,  independent  of 
tourist  agency,  and  was  now  nearing  the  com- 
pletion of  that  tour. 

He  had  stopped  for  a  few  days  in  Egypt 
on  his  outward  trip,  but  on  learning  what  the 
plan  for  my  visit  to  Egypt  was,  he  said  he 
would  be  glad  to  join  me.  I  felt  equally 
anxious  to  have  him.  And  so,  before  we 
sought  our  berths  it  was  planned  that  we 
would  continue  our  trip  together  during  our 
stay  in  the  "land  of  the  Pharaohs." 

When  we  awoke  next  morning  we  were  in 
the  harbor  of  Port  Said.  I  dreaded  disem- 
barking, for  our  vessel  anchored  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  shore,  and  that  meant  that 
boatmen   must   row  us  to  land.     My  expe- 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

rience  at  every  other  port  in  the  eastern  Med- 
iterranean had  been  such  as  to  make  me 
expect  here  the  repetition  of  a  disagreeable 
experience. 

But  when  I  went  on  deck  there  was  an  air 
of  quiet  and  orderHness  that  was  distinctly 
noticeable.  And,  instead  of  being  solicited 
and  pulled  about  by  an  excitable  horde  of 
natives  in  rude  rivalry  for  patronage,  I  was 
courteously  asked  by  a  boatman  to  go  ashore 
with  him.  I  was  happy  to  go  in  his  boat,  and 
soon  I  placed  foot  for  the  first  time  on  the 
continent  of  Africa.    I  said  to  an  officer: 

"What  makes  this  port  so  different  from 
the  other  ports  in  the  East  ?" 

His  answer  was  brief,  but  very  compre- 
hensive.    Said  he: 

"The  English  are  in  authority  here." 

Then,  remembering  that  the  same  was  prac- 
tically true  of  all  Egypt,  I  began  to  feel  a 
sense  of  freedom  and  security  springing  up 
within  me. 

I  passed  with  the  crowd  into  the  waiting- 
room  of  the  Custom  House,  expecting  to  have 
to  wait  until  the  motley  multitude  of  returning 
natives  who  were  pressing  about  the  officers 
were  disposed   of.     But  one  of  the  officers 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

waved  his  hand,  beckoned  to  me,  and  ordered 
an  opening  in  the  throng  that  I  might  pass 
through,  smiHngly  made  a  half-examination 
of  my  higgage,  and  passed  me  on  as  though 
I  were  of  aristocratic  mold.  And  possibly  the 
wondering  natives  who  saw  me  accorded  such 
distinction  thought  that  they  were  looking 
upon  one  of  England's  noblemen ! 

But  where  was  Captain  Abraham?  When 
I  left  the  vessel  he  was  again  in  uncertainty 
as  to  whether  or  not  he  should  revisit  Egypt. 
But  when  I  had  reached  the  ticket-window  to 
get  my  ticket  to  Cairo  I  heard  my  name  called 
and,  looking  back  over  the  jostling  crowd,  I 
saw  the  face  of  my  friend.  Said  he,  "Get  two 
tickets;  I  am  going  with  you."  I  was  de- 
lighted at  his  decision,  and  soon  we  stood  side 
by  side  at  this  gateway  to  Egypt,  ready  to 
begin  a  most  remarkable  tour. 


16 


mint  l0tatl  Platen 

Chapter  IL 

Egypt  has  in  all  ages  been  distinctively  the 
"land  of  wonders,"  from  the  time  when 
Moses,  upheld  by  invisible  Power^  outrivaled 
the  magicians  of  Pharaoh's  court  in  their 
enchantments,  to  the  time  when  Napoleon 
inspired  his  little  band  of  soldiers  to  overcome 
multitudes  of  the  enemy  by  telling  them  that 
four  thousand  years  looked  down  from  the 
tops  of  the  Pyramids  upon  their  struggle ;  and 
to  our  own  generation,  when  modern  engineer- 
ing skill  has  accomplished  what  the  early 
native  kings,  and  later  the  Ptolomies,  had  tried 
to  do,  but  had  failed  in  the  attempt,  namely, 
to  connect  by  canal  the  Red  Sea  with  the 
Mediterranean ;  and  even  down  to  our  own 
day  when  consummate  ingenuity  has  built  the 
great  barrage-wall  across  the  Nile  at  Assuan 
to  check  its  annual  overflow  and  make  the 
valley  a  possible  perennial  garden,  sentried  by 
stone-faced  watchmen  who  took  their  places 
here  before  the  race  had  fully  doffed  the 
swaddling-clothes  of  its  infancy. 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

The  civilization  of  Egypt  is  older  than  the 
oldest  of  her  records.  Indeed,  when  the 
archaeologist  undertakes  to  discover  the  record 
of  the  beginnings  of  her  civilization  by  digging 
deeper  into  the  sand-buried  ruins,  she  simply 
points  to  some  relic  of  rare  art  thrown  up  by 
his  spade  and  smiles  through  it — a  sort  of 
mummy  smile — at  the  ignorance  of  him  and 
of  his  generation.  Not  yet  have  the  wisest 
students  of  antiquity  been  able  to  fix  a  date 
prior  to  which  Egypt  was  not  highly  civilized. 
She  courted  Philosophy  and  Art,  raised  monu- 
ments, and  embalmed  her  dead  with  hope  long 
before  Abraham  left  his  Mesopotamian  home 
to  tread  the  rugged  yet  inspiring  paths  of  a 
new  faith. 

This  wonderful  land  has  had  a  wonderful 
history.  And  much  of  this  history  has  been 
preserved  to  us  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
war  and  changing  empire,  in  painted  or  chis- 
eled hieroglyphic,  as  seen  on  papyrus,  obelisk, 
temple-wall,  mummy-case,  or  sepulchral  cham- 
ber. But  all  the  story  thus  written  was  hidden 
knowledge  until  the  discovery  of  the  ''Rosetta 
Stone,"  in  1799.  Formerly  man  guessed;  but 
now,  with  the  "key"  in  his  hand,  he  unlocks 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

the  past  and  reads  in  unmistakable  language 
the  matchless  story  of  the  far-away  centuries. 

Egypt  is  one  of  the  small  lands  that  have 
figured  colossally  in  the  world's  history.  It  is 
located  in  the  extreme  northeastern  part  of 
Africa,  and  is  fittingly  called  the  **land  of  the 
Nile,"  for,  without  the  presence  of  this  great 
river,  the  land  must  always  have  been  desert 
and  no  fit  home  for  man  or  beast. 

But  long  ago,  in  geologic  time,  the  river 
gathered  power  and  reinforcement  from  its 
tributaries  in  the  high  heart  of  the  continent, 
and,  rushing  upon  the  desert  with  a  mighty 
effort,  ploughed  a  channel  nearly  two  thousand 
miles  long  through  the  resisting  sands  till  it 
reached  the  Great  Sea  upon  the  north.  Then, 
as  though  the  work  were  complete,  the  waters 
of  the  stream  receded ;  and  lo,  in  the  struggle 
a  rich  gift  had  been  bestowed  along  the  line 
of  the  flooded  region — vegetation  could  then 
grow  here.  But  the  winds  rolled  forward 
great  billows  of  sand  as  if  to  fill  the  empty 
trench  of  the  Nile.  Nature's  great  battle  in 
Egypt  had  begun  in  earnest.  Each  year  the 
Nile  returned  in  its  overflow,  removing  ob- 
structions and  renourishing  the  land.  And  so, 
for  years  innumerable,  the  mighty  river  has 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

held  the  sand  at  bay;  and  it  early  made  pos- 
sible the  very  existence  of  a  people  and  a 
government  that  held  a  most  prominent  place 
in  the  great  dramatic  story  of  the  human  race. 

The  strip  of  land,  thus  redeemed  from  the 
desert  and  held,  varies  from  four  miles  to  six- 
teen miles  in  width,  south  of  Cairo,  But, 
beginning  at  Cairo,  the  river  divides  into  a 
number  of  branches,  reaching  the  sea  by 
numerous  outlets  or  mouths.  All  the  land 
from  Cairo  to  the  sea,  fertilized  by  the  river, 
is  called  the  Delta  of  the  Nile.  The  distance 
from  Cairo  to  the  Mediterranean  is  about 
ninety  miles,  hence  the  area  of  the  Delta  is 
great  in  proportion  to  the  remainder  of 
Egypt's  fertile  land. 

Egypt,  as  we  generally  think  of  it,  is  sup- 
posed to  have  extended  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  a  distance  of  possibly  six  hundred 
miles  (although  at  times  the  extent  was  much 
greater)  up  the  Nile,  and  is  said  to  have  em- 
braced in  its  area  only  about  11,000  square 
miles.  That  would  make  it  a  country  about 
one-third  as  large  as  our  State  of  Maine. 

In  ancient  times  this  land  was  divided,  polit- 
ically, into  Lower  Egypt,  with  Memphis  as  its 
capital  city,  and  Upper  Egypt,  with  Thebes  as 
its  capital. 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

One  of  the  first  tourists  in  this  land  who 
wrote  about  what  he  saw  was  Herodotus. 
While  it  is  conceded  that  he  was  given  to 
exaggeration  in  his  descriptions,  yet  it  is  also 
conceded  that  what  he  wrote  about  Egypt  has, 
in  the  main,  been  proven  to  be  true.  But 
Herodotus  visited  this  land  more  than  two 
thousand  years  ago.  Many  things  that  he  saw 
cannot  now  be  seen. 

He  tells  of  crocodiles  and  how  the  natives 
succeeded  in  catching  them — by  first  filling 
their  eyes  with  mud,  and  then  they,  being 
blinded,  were  easily  taken;  which  story  re- 
minds us  of  the  modern  easy  way  of  catching 
birds — by  first  putting  salt  on  their  tails.  (Our 
guide  told  us  that  there  are  now  no  crocodiles 
in  Egypt.)  He  speaks  of  the  sacred  animals 
and  how,  when  they  died,  they  were  embalmed 
and  buried  in  cities  sacred  to  them.  Dogs 
were  buried  in  the  city  in  which  they  had 
lived ;  cats,  in  Bubastis ;  hawks  and  shrew 
mice,  in  Buto;  and  ibises,  in  Hermopolis. 
(That  practice  no  longer  prevails  in  Egypt.) 
He  tells  of  the  lotus  flower  and  the  lotus- 
eaters,  and  of  the  papyrus  plant.  (All  these 
long  since  disappeared  from  Egypt.)     He  also 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

tells  of  the  Phoenix,  but  says  that  he  did  not 
see  that  bird. 

And  this  is  the  land  wherein  Israel  slaved. 
But  it  must  not  be  understood  that  Israel 
roamed  over  all  of  Egypt  as  I  have  outlined 
its  extent.  This  peculiar  people  seems  to  have 
been  segregated  from  the  natives ;  and  they 
were  given  a  region  of  rich  pasturage  along 
the  Tanitic  branch  of  the  Nile,  in  a  district 
called  Goshen,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Delta.  While  this  is  to  be  considered  the 
home  of  the  Israelites  during  their  stay  in 
Egypt,  it  is  conceivable,  and  very  probable, 
that  quite  large  numbers  of  them  were  con- 
scripted at  times  for  service  upon  great 
national  undertakings  elsewhere  in  the  land, 
and,  under  strict  surveillance,  were  taken  from 
Goshen  to  perform  those  heavy  tasks.  But 
in  my  designation,  "Where  Israel  Slaved,"  I 
mean  the  land  lying,  generally  speaking,  be- 
tween Cairo  and  the  Suez  Canal  and  north  to 
Port  Said,  with  special  attention  given  to  the 
near  environs  of  the  former  city. 

As  already  noted,  I  entered  Egypt  at  Port 
Said.  Here  is  the  northern  end  of  the  Suez 
Canal,  that  big  ditch  a  hundred  miles  long, 
ninety  yards  wide,  and  thirty  feet  deep,  corn- 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

pleted  in  1869  at  a  cost  of  eighty-five  millions 
of  dollars.  In  the  harbor  are  ships  of  many 
nations  awaiting  their  turn  to  take  advantage 
of  this  direct  rout  from  sea  to  sea  and  the  re- 
gions far  beyond  ; — and  every  vessel  crosses  in 
its  course  the  path  of  the  miracle  and  of  the 
overshadowing  cloud  of  the  times  of  the  great 
Exodus.  But  with  how  little  concern!  As  I 
board  my  train  I  know  that  before  sunset  I 
shall  have  passed  where  the  groans  of  the 
oppressed  Israelites  rose  to  an  avenging 
heaven,  and  where  wonder  after  wonder  mul- 
tiplied in  God's  dealing  with  his  people  in  the 
tragic  times  of  a  long-delayed  deliverance. 

After  arranging  a  little  lunch  to  carry  with 
us,  consisting  of  sardines  (a  food  that  I  never 
did  relish,  but  an  apparent  necessity  that  day) 
and  bread,  we  were  ready. 

For  about  fifty  miles,  until  we  reach 
Ismailia,  our  way  lies  close  by  the  Suez  Canal. 
This  is  a  desolate-looking  region,  with  numer- 
ous swamps  and  bitter-water  lakes,  which  are 
infested  by  swarms  of  small  birds.  At 
Ismailia  we  take  our  last  look  at  this  isthmus, 
the  "bridge  of  the  nations,"  over  which  so 
many  armies  had  passed  in  early  history. 
Beyond  is  desert ;  and,  far  to  the  southeast. 

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By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

mountains  in  dim  outline  are  seen ; — they  are 
the  nearer  mountains,  or  foothills  of  the  pen- 
insula of  Sinai. 

Then  we  turn  abruptly  to  the  right  and  pro- 
ceed in  a  westerly  direction  nearly  all  of  the 
afternoon.  Here  is  great  fertility.  Such  fields 
of  corn  and  of  cotton  I  had  never  before  seen. 
But  the  population  seems  scant;  the  villages 
are  few.  It  seems  more  like  the  plantations 
of  the  rich  than  the  heritage  and  possession  of 
a  peasantry.  Here  and  there  can  be  seen  a 
single  palm-tree  spreading  its  *'palms"  toward 
heaven  like  a  devout  Mohammedan  in  some 
of  his  attitudes  in  prayer.  Few  grov&s  of 
palms  are  seen  until  late  in  the  afternoon.  In 
a  number  of  places  I  see  the  natives  irrigating 
their  fields  by  pumping  water,  in  a  primitive 
treadmill  style,  from  their  shallow  Nile-fed 
wells. 

When  within  an  hour  of  Egypt's  capital,  I 
get  my  first  view  of  the  Pyramids  far  to  the 
southwest.  The  vision  steals  in  upon  me 
almost  unexpectedly;  and  while  I  am  still 
gazing  upon  the  dim  forms  of  those  distant 
mountains  of  rock  builded  by  men's  hands, 
Cairo  is  reached. 

Here    will    be    our    headquarters    while    in 
24 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Egypt;  but  as  the  city  stands  on  the  outskirts 
of  Goshen,  and  because  it  is  too  modern  to 
have  figured  in  any  of  Israel's  history,  I  shall 
reserve  for  the  next  chapter  the  story  of  my 
experiences  here. 

Early  in  the  morning  after  our  arrival  in 
the  city,  we  secured  a  native  Egyptian  to  be 
our  dragoman  for  special  services  while  in 
his  country.  His  name  was  Abdul  Gabr,  a 
man  probably  twenty-five  years  of  age,  who 
dressed  in  the  usual  native  costume,  and  who 
could  talk  English  fairly  well.  Then  we  pro- 
ceeded by  rail  to  the  site  of  old  Heliopolis, 
which  is  known  in  Scripture  story  as  ''On." 
On  the  way  we  passed  over  a  plain  where  two 
battles,  important  in  Egypt's  history,  were 
fought — the  first  in  1517,  by  which  the  Turks 
became  master  of  Egypt,  and  the  other  in 
1800,  when  Kleber  with  ten  thousand  French 
troops  defeated  sixty  thousand  Orientals  and 
gained  temporary  control  of  Cairo. 

Farther  on  we  passed  a  great  and  flourish- 
ing ostrich  farm;  but  it  was  so  modern  for 
Egypt  that  it  required  only  a  short  stay  to 
satisfy  me. 

Next  we  came  to  the  Virgin's  Fountain  and 
Tree,  which  tradition  points  out  as  the  place 

25 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

where  Mary,  accompanied  by  Joseph  and  their 
divine  Son,  drank  and  rested  when  driven 
from  her  home-land  by  the  decree  of  Herod. 
The  tree  is  large  and  spreading,  but  is  cer- 
tainly not  more  than  a  few  centuries  old. 
Baedeker  calls  it  a  s3'camore,  but  at  the  time 
of  my  visit  it  was  bearing  a  fruit  that  was 
very  similar  to  that  of  the  fig  tree. 

But  now  we  have  reached  the  objective 
point  of  our  morning  trip.  Yonder,  where 
now  are  cultivated  fields,  stood  ancient  Heliop- 
olis,  and  there  where  you  see  that  sunken 
area  was  located  its  magnificent  temple  with 
its  reputed  number  of  nearly  thirteen  thou- 
sand attendants;  and  that  lone  obelisk,  once 
standing  before  the  temple,  marks  the  spot  of 
departed  glory.  Companion  obelisks  are  now 
to  be  found  in  Constantinople,  Rome,  Lon- 
don, and  New  York,  carried  thither  by  mighty 
warriors  or  rich  purchasers,  who  despoiled 
Egypt  of  some  of  her  rarest  treasures  of  an- 
tiquity. May  no  vandalism  or  puffed-up  pride 
ever  remove  this  last  relic  of  a  city  of  great 
renown  from  the  place  given  it  by  the 
ancients ! 

The  obelisk  is  a  monolith,  sixty-five  feet 
high,  and  is  covered  from  base  to  summit  with 

26 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

hieroglyphics.  The  carvings  are  quite  distinct 
on  the  upper  part  of  the  shaft,  but  at  the  base 
the  monument  is  worn  away  very  considerably 
by  the  sand-freighted  winds  of  the  ever- 
recurring  seasons.  But  it  has  stood  for  ages 
to  speak  for  the  departed  greatness  of  Egypt 
and  her  people,  and  let  it  stand  for  ages  to 
come  to  tell  the  story  of  another  wonderful 
race,  alien  to  Egypt,  in  the  centuries  of  its 
beginnings. 

Let  it  tell  of  Abraham's  visit  to  this  land  in 
a  time  of  famine.  Let  it  speak  of  Joseph,  the 
Jewish  lad,  brought  a  slave  to  the  realm ;  how 
here  he  courted  and  won  the  daughter  of  the 
city's  chief  priest;  how  in  this  land  there  came 
to  him  a  season  of  trial  and  imprisonment; 
how  there  followed  release  and  exaltation; 
how,  when  again  famine  stalked  through 
Canaan,  the  brothers  who  had  sold  him  into 
bondage  came  to  him  to  buy  corn,  not  know- 
ing who  he  was ;  how,  when  they  came  to  him 
the  second  time,  he  revealed  to  them  his  iden- 
tity amidst  tears  and  fears ;  how,  a  little  later, 
an  old  man,  his  father,  came  hurrying  down 
from  Canaan  to  meet  his  lost  boy;  how  even 
the  Egyptians  received  these  shepherds  of  the 
north   kindly,    invited  them   to  abide   in   the 

27 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

land,  and  gave  them  a  favorable  part  of  the 
Delta  for  their  home — even  Goshen.  Let  it 
speak  of  Jacob's  faith  in  God,  even  in  the 
hour  of  death;  and  of  that  sad  concourse  of 
people  headed  toward  Machpelah  bearing  his 
embalmed  body — a  body  once  encircled  by  the 
arms  of  Jehovah,  as  he  wrestled  on  Jabbok — 
that  they  may  lay  it  beside  the  ashes  of  his 
parents  and  grandparents  in  the  sacred  tomb 
of  Hebron's  cave.  Let  it  tell  of  the  bondage, 
the  cruel  bondage,  of  Israel's  descendants  in 
this  land  when  there  came  to  the  throne  a 
king  that  "knew  not  Joseph" ;  and  how  God 
showed  his  love  for  his  people  and  his  unwill- 
ingness that  they  should  longer  be  oppressed, 
by  sending  upon  the  land  and  its  native  people 
plague  after  plague  until  Moses  received  full 
permission  to  lead  all  of  his  people  out  of  the 
land  of  their  distresses.  Yes,  let  this  obelisk 
tell  all  this ;  and  let  its  presence  ever  point 
toward  heaven,  in  silence  declaring  that  God 
is  just,  and  cares  for  his  own,  and  that  while 
all  things  earthly  decay,  up  yonder  is  stability 
and  never-fading  glory;  that  God  is  good  and 
unchangeable.  And  when  this  monument  fails 
to  tell  this  story,  let  it  topple  over  and  be 
buried  forever  in  the  sand. 

28 


Cairo 

Chapter  III. 

Cairo  is  a  city  of  about  four  hundred  thou- 
sand people,  was  founded  in  970  A.  D.,  was 
captured  by  Saladin  in  1171,  and  again  cap- 
tured, by  the  Turks,  in  1517.  Three  hundred 
and  fifty  mosques,  with  more  than  that  num- 
ber of  broad  domes  and  slender  minarets, 
grace  the  appearance  of  the  city.  Modern 
Cairo  will  please  the  tourist  of  to-day.  and 
"Old  Cairo"  will  interest  him  exceedingly. 

The  city  is  located  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Nile,  about  five  miles  from  the  beginning  of 
the  Delta.  To  the  east  of  the  city  is  the 
somber-looking  ridge  of  Mokattam.  The  site 
of  the  city  being  only  about  six  and  a-half 
degrees  from  the  Torrid  Zone,  one  is  not  sur- 
prised to  find  that  the  mean  annual  tempera- 
ture is  seventy-two  degrees  Fahrenheit.  Its 
elevation  is  only  forty  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea. 

Like  Jerusalem,  Cairo  has  its  quarters  for 
the  peoples  of  differing  faiths,  and  these  quar- 

29 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

ters  are  separated  by  gates  which  are  closed 
at  night. 

The  modern  part  of  the  city  has  a  few  fine 
streets,  many  beautiful  structures,  excellent 
hotels,  and  public  gardens  of  exceptional  inter- 
est  to  an  Occidental.  The  city  has  had  a  great 
and  rapid  transformation  in  recent  years,  and 
is  becoming  more  and  more  a  winter  home  for 
people  of  wealth  from  lands  to  the  north  of 
the  Mediterranean. 

On  strolling  along  one  of  its  principal 
streets  shortly  after  my  arrival,  the  following 
strange  thing  happened  to  me :  A  well-dressed 
native  seated  in  front  of  a  business  house, 
seeing  me  while  I  was  yet  a  good  distance 
from  him,  sprang  to  his  feet  and  came  running 
to  meet  me.  He  seized  my  hand  and  pressed 
kisses  upon  it ;  and  then,  noting  my  embarrass- 
ment and  look  of  disapproval,  began  a  series 
of  protestations,  in  a  language  that  contained 
just  enough  English  for  me  to  understand 
that  he  was  trying  to  tell  me  that  he  knew 
me,  that  he  was  glad  to  see  me  again,  that  we 
had  previously  met  somewhere  in  happy  rela- 
tion, etc.,  etc.  But  I  was  just  as  certain  that 
I  never  before  had  seen  him;  so  I  tried  to 
pass  on.    But  he  followed  me  for  a  half  block, 

30 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

still  trying  to  explain,  occasionally  opening  his 
mouth  prodigiously  and  pointing  to  where  a 
tooth  was  missing.  Did  he  think  that  he  rec- 
ognized in  me  the  man  who  had  pulled  an 
aching  tooth  for  him?    I  do  not  know. 

In  Cairo  is  a  Mohammedan  university  of 
great  age  and  of  large  attendance.  The  en- 
rollment of  students  fifteen  years  ago  fell  little 
below,  if  it  did  not  exceed,  ten  thousand.  The 
attendance,  since  England  has  had  more  com- 
plete control  of  Egypt,  has  decreased, — not 
because  of  any  express  act  or  desire  upon  the 
part  of  the  English,  but  simply  because  dark- 
ness and  superstition  must  flee  in  the  presence 
of  light  and  higher  civilization. 

But  the  attendance  was  still  great  when  I 
visited  the  school,  numbering  at  least  several 
thousand  students  from  all  parts  of  Moslem 
realm.  The  pupils  ranged  in  age  from  six 
years  to  forty  years,  and  all  were  studying 
but  one  book — the  Koran.  They  sat  on  the 
floor  of  the  inner  court  and  arcades  in  groups 
made  up  of  a  dozen  or  more  each.  The 
teacher  sat  on  the  floor  in  front  of  his  pupils. 
They  swayed  back  and  forth  as  they  studied, 
making  much  noise  as  they  repeated  again 
and  again  their  lessons.    I  have  been  told  that 

31 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

a  quiet  class  here  is  evidence  of  Httle  study. 
So,  the  more  noise  the  better;  and  it  is  the 
teacher's  duty  to  see  that  the  evidence  of 
industry  is  not  wanting.  Some  of  the  pupils 
stay  four  or  five  years;  they  study  from  early 
morning  till  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  some 
even  sleep  in  this  mosque,  which  is  termed 
the  University. 

As  I  go  through  the  spacious  chambers  in 
which  the  groups  are  so  numerous  that  I  can 
barely  pass  by  them,  I  see  some  of  the  pupils 
lying  on  the  floor  asleep,  and  at  other  places 
some  are  eating  their  simple  lunches.  Of 
course,  all  that  are  here  are  of  the  male  sex. 

Just  as  we  are  leaving  the  school,  a  Muezzin 
chants  from  one  of  the  minarets  of  the  mosque 
the  Mohammedan  call  to  prayer.  We  watch 
him  as  he  repeats  the  call,  facing  each  time  a 
different  cardinal  point  of  the  compass.  A 
smile  of  interest,  certainly  not  of  mockery, 
must  have  been  seen  on  our  faces,  for  among 
the  thousands  who  have  laid  aside  the  Koran 
on  hearing  the  Muezzin's  call  and  who  are 
now  hurrying  to  closets  and  fountains  in  the 
court  to  bathe  before  beginning  their  prayers 
(an  absolute  requirement  of  the  Moslem),  are 
some  who  gesticulate  threateningly  as  though 

32 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

they  meant  that  we  should  leave  the  place, 
almost  indicating  a  desire  to  help  us  to  do  it 
quickly.  We  are  not  exactly  expelled  from 
school,  but — we  leave  the  University. 

On  the  way  to  Old  Cairo  we  first  visit  the 
Mosque  of  Amru,  which  stands  where  there 
has  been  continuously  a  mosque  for  nearly  a 
thousand  years.  Here  the  Khedive  of  Eg\'pt 
comes  once  a  year,  and  on  that  occasion  every 
available  space  is  crowded  with  people.  In 
the  center  of  the  open  court  is  a  fountain,  the 
water  of  which  Mohammedans  firmly  believe 
comes  from  Mecca.  In  this  mosque  are  two 
pillars  standing  close  together,  called  "trial 
pillars" ;  the  prevailing  belief  is  that  only 
those  who  can  pass  between  them  shall  enter 
into  Paradise.  Many  a  portly  man  has  gotten 
through  only  with  the  help  of  friends.  It 
seems  foolish,  but  I  suspect  that  such  pillars 
in  some  parts  of  America  would  be  worn  as 
smooth  as  are  these,  by  persons  who  are  not 
quite  sure  that  simple  faith  in  Christ  will  save 
a  man,  but  who  want  external  evidence  of  a 
saved  state  of  life.  On  the  opposite  side  of 
the  court  is  a  pillar  peculiarly  veined  with 
monogram-like  designs  bearing  marked  simi- 
larity to  the  signatures  of  Mohammed  and  a 

33 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

few  Turks  of  note.  It  is  claimed  that  by  the 
simple  word  of  Mohammed  as  he  smote  this 
pillar  with  his  whip,  thus  leaving  the  marks 
referred  to,  it  came  from  the  quarry  in  a 
miraculous  manner  and  took  its  place  here  in 
the  building,  without  the  touch  of  any  man's 
hand.  In  a  near-by  corner  is  the  tomb  of  the 
founder  of  this  mosque. 

On  entering  Old  Cairo,  we  find  narrow, 
dirty,  ruin-flanked  streets,  with  here  and  there 
a  poor  scavenger  carrying  a  large  flat  basket 
on  his  head;  without  removing  this  basket 
from  his  head  he  is  able  to  fill  it  by  picking 
bits  of  litter  and  manure  from  the  ground. 
What  he  gathers  he  uses  as  fuel  in  his  miser- 
able quarters,  called  home. 

We  do  not  care  to  tarry  in  this  section  of 
the  city,  but  there  is  one  thing  that  we  have 
come  especially  to  see — the  old  Coptic  Chris- 
tian Church;  the  present  structure  is  said  to 
be  nearly  a  thousand  years  old.  To  get  per- 
mission to  see  it,  we  find  the  custodian  of  the 
place.  With  a  key  of  wood  nearly,  or  quite, 
eighteen  inches  long  he  opens  a  wooden  door 
leading  into  a  narrow  alley.  We  follow  him 
through  filth  and  among  rickety  old  buildings 
until  back  somewhere  we  find  the  structure 

34 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

called  the  church.  In  the  basement  of  the 
building  he  shows  us  places  where  tradition 
says  that  Joseph  and  Mary  sat  to  rest  with 
their  little  Child  when  they  came  to  Egypt. 
Between  these  two  sacred  ( ?)  seats  is  a  bap- 
tismal font  for  use  to-day  in  the  baptism  of 
children. 

Out  in  the  same  section  of  the  city,  but 
nearer  the  Nile,  I  attended  a  service  of  the 
''howling  dervishes."  It  was  on  a  Friday — the 
hour  was  one  o'clock.  The  place  of  the  ''howl- 
ing" was  within  a  kind  of  enclosed  court,  to 
enter  which  one  had  to  pay  a  small  admittance 
fee.  After  one  had  gotten  within  the  court  a 
good  seat  with  splendid  view  of  the  perform- 
ance could  be  secured  by  a  further  payment 
of  two  piastres  (ten  cents).  The  platform 
was  about  thirty  feet  long,  twenty  feet  wide, 
and  a  foot  high,  and  was  built  of  stone.  This 
was  well  covered  with  rugs  and  the  skin*,  of 
animals,  while  overhead  was  a  canopy  of 
grape  that  shaded  the  platform  and  near  sur- 
roundings. The  service,  if  such  it  may  be 
called,  began  at  two  o'clock.  About  two  dozen 
men  filed  out  of  their  quarters  near  by,  some 
in  gorgeous  apparel,  and  took  their  places  on 
the    platform.      The    leader    took    his    place, 

35 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

seated  on  the  floor,  while  the  others  stood 
facing  him.  With  a  long,  monotonous  series 
of  growls  from  the  leader,  the  performance 
begins.  Then  they  all  growl,  dropping  their 
heads  on  their  breasts ;  then  they  throw  them 
violently  back.  They  continue  to  do  this  for 
some  time,  always  repeating  some  expres- 
sion in  a  deep,  guttural  tone ;— I  recognize  but 
two  words  throughout  the  whole  perform- 
ance—"Allah"  and  "Mohammed."  As  the 
performance  continues,  instead  of  simply 
moving  the  head  back  and  forth,  the  pivot  for 
motion  becomes  the  hip- joint,  and  in  quick 
movement  forward  their  heads  are  made 
almost  to  touch  the  floor ;  then  they  as  quickly 
bend  far  backwards.  Thus  back  and  forth, 
with  increasing  rapidity,  their  long  hair  flying 
wildly  over  them,  all  the  while  groaning  and 
occasionally  yelling  as  if  they  were  suffering 
intense  agony,  they  make  you  uncertain  as  to 
what  the  end  of  it  all  will  be.  The  leader 
times  the  rapidity  of  the  movement  by  beating 
on  a  sort  of  kettle  drum ;  and  at  times  a  flute 
and  a  tambourine  are  heard.  There  is  little 
variation  in  the  performance  as  it  runs  on 
through  the  hour,  except  that  some  long,  dizzy 
whirling  is  introduced.  How  they  live  through 

36 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

a  single  performance  I  can  scarcely  under- 
stand. But  they  do  live,  and  are  ready  to 
repeat  it  again  and  again.  For  revenue?  I 
half  suspect  it.  Poor,  deluded  mortals!  Can 
my  Father  be  pleased  with  such  things  done 
in  the  name  of  worship? 

In  the  Nile  at  Cairo  is  an  island  called 
Rhoda.  To  reach  it  I  enter  an  old,  leaky 
boat.  The  channel  is  not  wide  and  I  am  soon 
across.  I  walk  through  gardens  of  roses  that 
bloom  in  great  profusion  at  the  time  of  my 
visit.  Much  of  the  island  is  covered  with 
residences.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  island 
is  a  curious  instrument  called  the  Nilometer, 
so  planned  and  placed  as  to  record  the  height 
of  the  inundations  of  the  stream.  It  is  very 
old. 

But  what  is  most  interesting  here  is  the 
tradition  that  at  a  point  on  the  shore  of  this 
island,  now  marked  by  a  peculiar  angle  in  the 
protecting  wall,  is  the  spot  where  the  daughter 
of  Pharaoh  found  the  weeping  child,  Moses, 
in  the  bulrushes — the  child  that  became  the 
mighty  deliverer  of  his  people  from  bondage. 
True,  it  is  a  tradition  that  locates  the  spot 
here,  but  it  can  be  truthfully  said  that  here, 
somewhere,  the  event  did  take  place.     And  I 

37 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

feel  like  baring  my  head  and  listening  to  catch 
some  word  of  hope  out  of  the  dim  and 
shadowy  past  from  him  who,  in  his  leadership 
of  his  people  Israel,  foreshadowed  Him  who 
in  the  fulness  of  time  was  to  break  the  shack- 
les of  the  whole  human  race. 


38 


PH 


O 


> 


%it  (Bttat  p^tamiti 

Chapter  IV. 
7.    In  General. 

The  ruins  of  seventy-five  pyramids  are  yet 
to  be  found  in  Lower  Egypt,  near  Memphis. 
And  while  any  single  pyramid  is  a  marvel  in 
construction,  the  group  known  as  the  Gizeh 
pyramids  is  the  most  interesting.  This  group 
is  near  the  city  of  Cairo,  and  is  therefore  the 
one  most  frequently  visited  by  the  tourist 
whose  time  is  limited.  And  it  is  the  group  that 
must  be  seen  in  order  to  know  well  the  pyr- 
amids of  this  land  of  colossal  structures. 

In  the  group  referred  to  is  the  massive  rock- 
mountain  known  as  The  Great  Pyramid. 

It  stands  on  a  natural  elevation  two  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  feet  above  sea-level,  six  miles 
west  of  the  Nile,  and  ninety  miles  from  the 
Mediterranean.  Its  location  is  said  to  be  the 
exact  center  of  the  arc  of  a  circle  formed  by 
the  outline  of  the  Delta  as  it  projects  into  the 
sea.  It  is  built  of  solid  rock  brought  from  the 
Mokattam  Hills,  east  of  the  Nile ;  from  Syene, 
far  up  the  river ;  and  from  Sinai.    These  rocks, 

39 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

some  of  enormous  size,  (measurmg  thirty  feet 
by  five  feet  by  five  feet),  were  quarried  from 
their  native  beds  and  then  transported  down 
and  across  the  Nile  to  a  point  opposite  Gizeh. 
Then  in  order  to  get  them  to  the  site  chosen 
for  the  pyramid  a  canal  was  dug  through 
which  the  rocks  were  brought  near  to  the  ele- 
vation. Here  they  were  unloaded  and  placed 
on  a  constructed  causeway,  or  inclined  plane, 
and  then  dragged  or  rolled  to  their  places  in 
the  building.  This  plane  increased  in  steepness 
with  the  completion  of  each  succeeding  layer 
of  rock  until  the  highest  layer  was  finished 
and  the  glittering  apex-stone,  the  ''head  of 
the  corner,"  was  placed  in  its  lofty  location — 
and  the  memorial  stood  complete. 

But  the  builders  did  not  build  without  care 
as  to  the  foundation.  The  spot  selected  was 
just  right,  or  with  superior  skill  was  made 
so.  The  foundation  is  the  native  rock,  chiseled 
so  as  to  present  a  nearly  level  surface.  On 
this,  with  corner-stones  set  in  sockets  cut 
into  the  solid  rock,  they  built  the  material 
brought  from  the  mountains  far  distant. 

When  we  think  of  the  size  of  this  structure 
we  are  awed  at  the  intrepidity  of  the  archi- 
tect who  planned  it  and  of  the  master-mechanic 

40 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

who  superintended  the  work  and  commanded 
the  army  of  men  necessary  to  execute  the  plan. 
Herodotus  tells  us  tliat  it  required  the  united 
labor  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  through  a 
period  of  twenty  years  to  build  it !  Where  is 
the  man  to-day  that  could  plan  for  the  general 
commissary  arrangements  necessary  for  so 
many  men  through  so  long  a  period  of  time, 
and  always  facing  such  a  work  of  seeming 
impossibility ;  much  less  could  he  plan  and 
execute  the  stupendous  undertaking!  I  sus- 
pect that  nearly  every  square  inch  of  surface 
of  this  pyramid  represents  the  death  of  a 
workman,  and  that  the  whole  could  be  painted 
a  rich  scarlet  with  the  blood  that  was  drawn 
by  the  master's  lash  from  the  hard-pushed, 
groaning  laborers. 

In  size  it  is  indeed,  most  massive.  Its  base 
is  an  exact  square,  measuring  775  feet  along 
each  side.  By  a  little  calculation  you  will 
find  that  this  base  covers  more  than  thirteen 
acres  of  ground !  Now,  if  you  can  think  of  a 
field  this  size,  or  will  measure  along  the  street, 
or  roadway,  a  distance  of  775  feet,  then  you 
will  begin  to  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the 
work  that  these  builders  undertook  and  ac- 
complished. 

41 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

First  they  laid  a  layer  of  thick  rocks,  nicely 
chiseled  and  fitted  together,  over  the  whole  of 
this  surface.  On  this  layer  they  placed  an- 
other layer,  dropping  back  a  foot  or  two  along 
each  side.  And  so  it  was  with  the  next  layer ; 
and  so  with  all  of  them.  The  number  of  lay- 
ers in  the  entire  pyramid  was  220.  and  they 
varied  in  thickness  from  twenty-two  inches  to 
about  fifty-six  inches,  but  each  separate  lay- 
er was  uniform  in  thickness  throughout. 

Then  the  builders  built  on,  layer  after  layer, 
through  year  after  year  until  two-thirds  of  a 
generation  had  passed  away.  As  already 
stated,  when  each  layer  was  finished  the  pyr- 
amid-end of  the  causeway  was  elevated  until, 
finally,  on  the  little,  contracted  area  of  the 
219th  layer  the  master-mechanic  with  possibly 
one  or  two  helpers  stood  waiting  to  receive 
the  five-cornered  cap-stone,  that,  once  in  its 
position,  would  proclaim  the  completion  of  the 
most  gigantic  material  building  in  the  history 
of  the  race.  As  they  stand  waiting  for  the 
stone  of  beauty  to  be  hoisted  to  their  hands 
they  can  look  out  over  a  thousand  thousand 
graves  of  men  who  toiled  to  make  this  last 
hour  possible ;  and  they  can  see  a  multitude 
of  tired,  bruised,  and  bent  subjects  of  a  tyran- 

42 


^  By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

nical  king  turning  their  eyes  upward  to  the 
dizzy  height  whereon  they  now  stand,  the 
simple  ones  forgetting  for  a  moment  their 
wrongs  on  beholding  the  beauty  and  symmetry 
of  the  vast  structure  which  may  forever  be  re- 
garded as  a  monument  of  human  suffering 
and  woe.  The  stone  has  at  last  reached  the 
men,  and  is  soon  fixed  in  its  place,  "nesting 
with  the  stars,"  481  feet  above  the  bedrock  on 
which  the  Pyramid  is  built, — and  the  great 
work  is  done. 

The  history  of  this  pyramid  will  probably 
never  be  fully  known.  The  "father  of  history," 
Herodotus,  visited  it  about  445  B.  C,  and  made 
a  personal  examination  of  it.  Even  at  that 
time  it  was  considered  a  very  ancient  struc- 
ture. A  dozen  other  Greek  writers  of  fame 
have  written  of  it ;  also  a  number  of  Romans. 
It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  work  is  at 
least  four  thousand  years  old  and  that  it  was 
built  by  Cheops,  or  Khufu,  (which  is  a  more 
ancient  name  for  the  same  person,)  of  the 
fourth  Egyptian  dynasty.  The  date  usually 
given,  2170  B.  C,  as  the  birth-year  of  this 
mountain  of  hewn  stone,  cannot  yet  be  def- 
initely established. 

Over  a  thousand  years  ago,  in  820  A.  D., 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile  ^ 

Caliph  Al  Mamoun,  son  of  Haroun  Al  Ras- 
chid,  of  "Arabian  Nights"  fame,  conceived  the 
idea  that  this  pyramid,  like  some  others,  had 
great  treasures  hidden  in  supposed  inner  cham- 
bers. He  came  with  a  multitude  of  helpers 
and  began  to  batter  away  at  the  solid  masonry 
that  he  might  force  a  passage  to  the  imagined 
gold-stored  room.  With  their  poor  imple- 
ments it  was  almost  a  hopeless  undertaking  to 
try  to  pierce  that  rock-mass.  How  long  they 
were  engaged  in  this  almost  unreasonable 
labor  is  not  stated ;  but,  though  with  much  re- 
bellion at  times  among  the  workmen,  they 
succeeded'in  forcing  the  passage  to  a  distance 
of  fully  a  hundred  feet.  Still  there  was  no 
sign  of  finding  anything  except  the  ever-recur- 
ring flinty  rock.  With  riot  almost  prevailing 
in  the  camp  of  the  baffled  laborers,  they  were 
abandoning  their  effort,  when  a  noise  was 
heard  near  within,  like  that  of  a  falling 
stone.  It  served  to  arouse  their  sinking  spirits. 
They  renewed  their  effort  and  in  a  little  while 
discovered  the  passage  leading  up  and  out  to 
the  original  entrance,  well  up  in  the  north  side 
of  the  pyramid.  But  the  entrance  had  been 
closed  so  carefully  that  no  one  had  ever  sus- 
pected its  presence  at  that  point.    Thus  it  was 

44 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

that  the  hidden  entrance  passage-way  was  un- 
expectedly found. 

But  this  way  out  did  not  lead  to  the 
searched-for  treasures;  and  just  where  the  en- 
forced passage  penetrated  the  original  pass- 
age a  great  stone  was  found  so  tightly  fitted 
that  they  could  not  remove  it.  It  remains  there 
to  this  day.  Al  Mamoun  directed  his  men  to 
dig  and  bore  away  the  rock  around  it ;  but 
when  that  was  done  and  they  were  able  to 
remove  a  rock  from  the  other  side,  another 
rock  immediately  slipped  into  its  place ;  and 
when  it  was  removed,  another  came ;  and  so 
on,  until  an  upward  channel  leading  toward 
the  center  of  the  pyramid  had  been  cleared. 
Then  up  that  steep  passage-way  the  men 
pressed  as  rapidly  as  they  could  go  until  they 
reached  what  is  called  the  King's  Chamber, 
almost  at  the  heart  of  the  great  pile,  but  only 
to  find  nothing  there  except  an  empty  coffin- 
like box  of  granite. 

Since  that  time  many  have  entered  the  pyr- 
amid ;  but  as  the  air  is  so  foul  it  is  strongly 
urged  that  any  one  predisposed  to  heart  trouble 
should  not  enter.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  those  who  visit  the 
pyramid,  very  few  enter  it. 

45 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Before  visiting  Egypt  I  had  read  all  that  I 
could  find  written  about  the  pyramids.  Along 
with  other  valuable  treatises  I  had  read  "A 
Miracle  in  Stone,"  written  over  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago  by  J.  A.  Seiss,  D.D.  In  this 
book  I  was  much  interested,  and  even  felt  that 
I  wanted  to  accept  the  conclusions  reached  by 
the  author. 

It  puts  forth  the  proposition,  and  by  appeal- 
ing to  mathematics,  astronomy,  science,  and 
history,  attempts  to  prove  it,  that  this  pyr- 
amid is  the  first  of  all  pyramids  to  be  built ; 
that  it  was  built  by  divine  command  and  direc- 
tion ;  that  in  it  is  to  be  found  by  special  sym- 
bolic measurements  the  history  of  the  race,  of 
Israel's  bondage,  of  the  Incarnation,  of  the 
Resurrection-life,  and  of  heaven  and  hell ; 
also  that  it  tells  the  date  of  its  own  building. 
It  further  claims  to  have  discovered  a  system 
of  measurements — linear,  liquid,  and  solid. 

Doctor  Seiss  and  those  who  believe  with  him 
hold  that  the  Scripture  found  in  Isaiah  19: 
19,  20,— "In  that  day  shall  there  be  an  altar 
to  the  Lord  in  the  midst  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  a  pillar  at  the  border  thereof  to  the  Lord ; 
and  it  shall  be  for  a  sign  and  for  a  witness 

46 


'  1 


Climbing  the   Great   Pyramid. 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

unto  the  Lord  of  hosts  in  Egypt," — points  con- 
clusively, in  its  reference,  to  this  pyramid. 

The  book  is,  to  say  the  least,  very  readable ; 
and  though  it  is  not  likely  that  he  will  concur 
in  the  opinions  of  the  author,  it  nevertheless, 
will   thoroughly   interest  the   average  reader. 

2.     My  Ascent. 

I  now  turn  to  a  presentation  of  the  incidents, 
investigations,  and  impressions  of  my  own 
visit  to  the  Great  Pyramid. 

To  climb  the  greatest  of  pyramids  was  an 
ambition  of  my  childhood  which  grew  upon 
me  through  youth  and  early  manhood.  So 
when  I,  accompanied  by  Capt.  Lot  Abraham, 
started  out  from  Cairo  on  that  bright  Novem- 
ber morning  my  spirits  were  high.  I  know  of 
no  sweeter  pleasure  than  comes  at  the  moment 
when  one  can  feel  that  the  cherished  jewel  of 
long  seeking  is  at  last  within  reach  and  awaits 
one's  eager,  yet  hesitating,  grasp ;  or  when, 
after  long  striving,  one  can  feci  the  crown  of 
successful  accomplishment  resting  lightly,  but 
surely,  on  one's  brow. 

We  proceeded  by  carriage  across  the  great 
bridge  over  the  Nile  to  the  end  of  the  trolley 
line   which   Hes   in   an   avenue  of   palms   and 

47 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

acacia  trees.  No  houses  are  on  either  side. 
While  we  were  waiting  for  the  car  to  start 
it  seems  that  Abdul,  our  dragoman,  had  told 
some  native  soldiers  who  happened  to  be  on 
the  car,  that  Mr.  Abraham  was  a  veteran  cav- 
alryman, for  he  turned  to  my  friend  and  said, 
"These  men  do  not  believe  that  you  ever 
wielded  a  sword  in  battle."  "They  don't !"  said 
Mr.  Abraham;  "if  they  know  how  to  fight 
with  swords,  I'll  soon  convince  them."  Then 
began  a  mimic  sword-fight  without  weapons 
between  Mr.  Abraham  and  one  of  the  men. 
The  fierce  encounter  lasted  only  a  little  while, 
thrusting  and  parrying,  until  the  native  smiled 
and  said  to  our  guide,  "It's  true;  I  believe  it 
now." 

The  ride  of  ten  miles  seems  short,  and  is  so 
exhilarating  on  this  beautiful  early  morning. 
The  natives  are  singing  at  their  work  as  they 
prepare  to  plant  their  crops  in  the  muddy  de- 
posit left  by  the  slowly-receding  waters  of  the 
river.  And  all  the  while  the  pyramids  are 
in  plain  view,  and  becoming  more  and  more 
impressive  as  we  draw  nearer  to  them. 

The  terminal  station  is  near  the  base  of  Che- 
ops. So  it  is  only  a  little  while  until  we  are 
surrounded  by  a  noisy  crowd  of  Arabs,  would- 

48 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

be  guides,  official  and  otherwise,  who  break 
rudely  in  upon  my  rapture  induced  by  standing 
so  near  these  towers  of  Cyclopean  masonry, 
and  disturb  my  meditation,  and  also  the  peace- 
ful quiet  of  my  nature. 

It  had,  for  years,  been  a  settled  resolution 
with  me  that  if  ever  I  visited  Egypt,  and  still 
possessed  the  vigor  of  youth,  I  would  climb 
the  greatest  of  the  pyramids,  and  that  without 
help.  I  stand  for  a  while  looking  up  at  that 
mountain  of  rock  whose  base  now  partially 
rests  beneath  the  drifted  sands.  It  seems  to 
have  grown  so  much  within  the  last  hour! 
And  now  it  looms  so  grand  that  its  immensity 
fairly  leaps  upon  me ;  and  its  awful  silence  that 
seems  to  speak  so  loud  oppresses  me.  I  am 
eager  to  make  the  ascent,  and  to  do  it  alone. 
But  the  steps  are  so  high — from  about  twenty 
inches  to  almost  five  feet !  These  steps,  occa- 
sioned by  each  succeeding  layer  of  rock  drop- 
ping back  a  little  farther  than  the  layer  imme- 
diately below  it,  were  once  filled  with  triangular 
prisms  of  porphyry  carefully  cut  and  polished 
so  that  when  the  pyramid  was  finished  its  slop- 
ing sides,  from  base  to  summit,  were  as  smooth 
as  glass.  But  the  builders  and  beautifiers  of 
Cairo  removed  all  this  casing  and  also  dimin- 

49 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

ished  the  height  of  the  pyramid  about  thirty 
feet  by  removing  the  top.  So  now  on  all  sides 
are  seen  these  great  irregular  steps.  But  Na- 
ture must  have  had  this  event  of  my  life  in 
mind  when  she  planned  my  physical  struc- 
ture, for  she  built  me  capable  of  climbing  big 
steps. 

I  am  ready,  and  will  go.  But,  no,  not — just 
— yet!  I  am  quickly  surrounded  by  the  pyr- 
amid guides  who  resist  me,  and,  in  what  little 
English  they  know,  tell  me  it  is  unlawful  for 
me  to  go  alone,  and  that  I  must  have  at  least 
tzvo  guides.  And  a  writer  in  a  leading  mag- 
azine a  few  years  ago  said,  **The  law  requires 
one  to  be  accompanied  by  a  Bedouin  'lifter'  at 
each  elbow  and  another  Arab  behind  to 
'boost.'  "  But  if  such  were  the  law  at  the  time 
of  my  visit,  then  I  was  a  law-breaker.  After 
much  wrangling  and  argumentation,  we  finally 
compromise  the  matter  by  my  consenting  to 
take  one  guide. 

The  matter  being  settled,  I  carefully  instruct 
the  appointed  guide  that  it  will  be  his  duty  to 
precede  me  and  show  me  the  way,  but  on  no  ac- 
count must  he  touch  me,  unless  I  call  for  help. 
And,  now,  we  start.  My  guide  moves  from 
step  to  step  with  the  greatest  apparent  ease; 

50 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

and  I  follow  with  a  determined  vigor.  My  suc- 
cess surprises  my  guide  and  highly  gratifies 
me.  But  I  still  have  some  trouble  with  "pull- 
ers," "pushers,"  "hat-carriers,"  "water-car- 
riers," etc.,  who  follow  me  part  way  up,  in- 
sisting that  I  will  need  them.  I  beg  them  to 
go  back ;  then  I  scold ;  then  I  threaten  to  roll 
massive  rocks  upon  them  if  they  do  not  leave 
me  immediately !  At  last,  the  pestiferous  tribe 
is  gone.  My  guide  is  waiting.  Again  I  hurry 
upward ;  but  he  moves  on  ahead  with  a  sup- 
pleness and  ease  that  I  am  beginning  to  envy, 
though  I  am  still  proud  of  my  progress.  But 
when  I  call  a  halt,  and  sit  down  a  minute  to 
rest,  and  then  look  up,  only  to  discover  that  I 
am  not  yet  half  way  to  the  summit,  I  begin  to 
realize  the  magnitude  of  my  undertaking. 
However,  I  make  no  complaint,  and  am  soon 
ready  to  resume  the  climbing.  It  is  harder 
work  than  I  thought  it  would  be.  Although 
accustomed  to  taking  long  strides,  they  have 
not  frequently  been  taken  iipzvards. 

In  varying  the  manner  of  my  climbing,  I  try 
springing  up  one  of  the  highest  layers ;  but  I 
had  not  carefully  calculated, — my  head  strikes 
a  rock  above,  and  for  some  days  I  carry  a 
miniature  pyramid  on  my  forehead.     I  felt  a 

51 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

forced  inclination  to  sit  down  right  then  and 
there  and  devote  myself  for  a  little  while  to  a 
study  of  astronomy,  for  surely  the  stars  {  !) 
never  before  had  seemed  quite  so  distinct  as 
on  that  bright  morning!  But  my  guide,  who 
is  several  steps  above  me,  must  not  know  what 
has  happened ;  so,  apparently  enraptured  with 
the  scene  below,  but  blinking  too  hard  to  see 
any  object  clearly,  I  lean  for  a  moment  against 
the  rocks,  and  then  pick  my  way  more  carefully 
until  the  summit,  now  a  rough  platform  over 
thirty  feet  square,  is  reached. 

And,  at  last,  I  may  quietly  rest.  Oh,  Weari- 
ness, take  flight !  Pain,  be  banished  !  Here 
is  a  panacea  for  all  thought  of  ill !  Can  there 
be  a  more  impressive  place  in  the  world  on 
which  to  stand — a  platform  451  feet  above  the 
sand,  erected  by  the  labors  of  over  a  hundred 
thousand  men  in  the  far-away  time  when  the 
race  was  young!  It  seems  to  me  that  I  can 
hear  the  sighs  and  groans  of  the  builders,  for 
most  of  them  were  lashed  to  the  work;  they 
were  slaves. 

The  view  from  this  elevation  is  impressive 
beyond  expression.  Yonder  to  the  northeast 
is  the  fertile  Delta,  beautiful  in  its  greenness, 
telling   its   story   of  prosperity,   magnificence, 

52 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

bondage,  deliverance,  retrogression ;  nearer,  in 
the  same  direction,  is  Cairo,  shining  a  splendid 
city  in  the  morning  light ;  beyond  Goshen  is 
a  far-stretching  sandy  plain  reaching  out  to- 
ward Palestine;  to  the  east,  in  the  hazy  dis- 
tance, the  horizon  is  darkened  by  elevations 
on  the  peninsula  of  Sinai ;  nearer  is  the  range 
of  Mokattam;  and  just  a  few  miles  in  front 
of  me  is  the  sacred  Nile  receding  from  its 
annual  overflow.  But  with  the  exception  of 
the  verdure  along  the  river  and  of  the  Delta  in 
the  northeast  the  scene  is  one  of  desolation  and 
death;  for,  to  the  north,  west,  and  south  are 
great  stretches  of  sand-hills  and  desert.  It  is 
said  that  one  can  look  over  the  ruins  of  forty 
pyramids  from  this  viewpoint.  The  Sphinx 
and  its  temple  are  in  the  foreground.  Tombs, 
innumerable,  are  on  every  hand — the  grave  of 
an  empire.  All  this  fills  me  anew  with  the 
appreciation  of  the  saying  of  the  Wise  Man, 
"All  is  vanity." 

When  seated  here  on  this  vantage-ground 
of  the  ages,  how  appropriate  to  one's  feelings 
are  the  following  lines : 

''Forever  and  forever  rolls  the  river, 
Forever  and  forever  looms  the  plain ; 

53 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Forever  shall  the  pale  stars  o'er  them  quiver. 

But  never  shall  her  past  return  again ! 
Hyperion  dawns  but  lights  her  frieze  in  vain. 
And  moons  peer  sadly  through  her  columned 
way; 
The  mid-day  glares  on  what  doth  yet  remain 
Of  faded  glory,  with  a  mocking  play — 
Thus  passeth  into  shadow  man's  imperious 
sway. 

"What  recks  it  that  Sesostris  dared  to  thrall 
His  fellow  kings,  and  haughty  Cheops  raised 
This  everlasting  pvramid !  the  pall 

Of  night  now  hangs  where  distant  glories 
blazed ! 
How  shall  fame  last  when  all  her  monuments 
Are  in  the  dust  ?    the  same  blue  bending  sky 
Serenely    smiles    through    time's    despairing 
rents. 
And  lengthened  colonnades  the  storm  defy — 
But  there's  no  scepter  now,  or  kingly  foot- 
fall nigh." 

My  guide  wishes  to  carve  my  name  on  the 
rock  'at  the  top.  (Hundreds  of  names  are 
already  there.)  I  say  "No."  I  write  it  with 
pencil  and  then  say  to  him,  "That  is  for  to-day ; 

54 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

this  hfe  is  for  Httle  longer;  we  go  from  sight 
and  out  of  memory  of  man  almost  together." 
After  some  time  spent  in  viewing  the  im- 
pressive scene  spread  out  before  me,  no  mat- 
ter which  point  of  the  compass  I  face,  I  begin 
my  descent,  which  is  scarcely  less  difficult  than 
the  ascent.  But  in  safety  I  reach  the  base. 
Another  of  life's  ambitions  has  been  realized. 

J.     Exploring  the  Interior. 

Most  people  visiting  Egypt  want  to  climb 
the  Great  Pyramid,  but  not  all  do  climb  it. 
The  task  is  too  difficult.  But  happy  is  the  one 
who  will  do  it,  for,  after  the  weariness  of 
climbing,  there  comes  such  rest  in  the  exhil- 
arating higher  atmosphere,  and  a  view  of  such 
matchless  scenic  beauty  and  historic  interest 
lies  below  and  far  out,  that  weariness  and 
irritation  seem  entirely  and  forever  gone  out 
of  life. 

And  while  it  is  possible  to  explore  the  in- 
terior, very  few  undertake  to  do  it.  It  is  more 
difficult  and  attended  by  more  danger  than 
the  ascent.  The  ventilation  is  so  poor,  (though 
small  supposed  ventilating  channels  have  been 
found) ,  and  the  air,  consequently,  so  foul,  that, 
as  previously  said,  persons  with  weak  hearts 

55 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

are  strongly  advised  not  to  enter.  Innumerable 
bats  frequent  the  galleries  and  chambers ;  and 
it  seems  as  though  the  foul  breath  of  the  more 
than  a  hundred  thousand   builders  had  been 


Vertical  Section  of  the  Great  Pyramid  ^from  south  to  north,  looking  westi 

A,  the  entrance-passage;  B,  the  Grand  Gallery;  C,  C,  ventilating  passages 
D,  the  Queen's  Chamber-  E,  the  grotto;  F,  the  subterranean  chamber  G,  the 
King's  Chamber. 

shut  in,  reserved  for  the  twentieth  century  vis- 
itor. It  is  with  solicitude  that  one  notes  the 
atmospheric  conditions,  after  passing  a  rod  or 
two  into  that  tower  of  great  dimensions,  and 
remembers  that  if  one  make  a  complete  investi- 
gation one  must  be  compelled  to  remain  at 

S6 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

least  an  hour  in  this  prison  constructed  more 
than  four  thousand  years  ago. 

Captain  Abraham  having  ascended  the  pyr- 
amid on  his  first  visit,  did  not  accompany  me 
to  the  top.  But  to  enter  and  explore  the  in- 
terior will  be  new  to  him.  So  we  plan  together. 
Here  I  do  not  try  to  fight  myself  free  of 
guides ;  I  am  glad  to  have  them — two  of  them 
— one  to  precede  me  and  one  to  follow  me, 
with  lights,  and  ready  to  give  assistance  at  a 
moment's  call.     We  are  ready. 

There  was  only  one  entrance  as  left  by  the 
builders,  and  that  had  been  so  carefully  con- 
cealed that  it  was  not  discovered  until  the 
pyramid  had  stood  fully  three  thousand  years. 
As  already  noted,  the  discovery  of  this  en- 
trance was  by  accident.  But  when  found,  all 
who  cared  to  do  so  might  enter.  However,  for 
a  long  time  the  structure  was  thought  to  be  a 
habitation  of  serpents ;  consequently  the  many 
feared  to  enter,  among  the  number  being  the 
great  traveler,  Mandeville. 

The  opening  is  found  on  the  north  side  of 
the  pyramid  in  the  thirteenth  layer  of  rock, 
sixty  feet  from  the  ground.  The  size  of  the 
opening  and  passageway  is  forty-one  and  one- 
half  inches  high  and  forty-seven  inches  wide. 

57 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

The  sides  and  floor  of  the  passage  are  as 
smooth  as  slate ;  and  since  the  course  to  be  fol- 
lowed is  not  in  horizontal  line,  but  descends 
at  an  angle  of  nearly  twenty-seven  degrees, 
one  studies  very  gravely  the  question  as  to  how 
to  proceed.  A  "six-footer"  cannot  zvalk  in  a 
passage  only  three  and  a-half  feet  high.  To 
enter  head  foremost  on  that  slippery  incline 
would  be  dangerous  should  one  lose  hold  and 
get  started.  I  finally  decide  to  move  feet  fore- 
most. Then  seating  myself  on  that  smooth 
floor,  and  carefully  controlling  my  speed  with 
my  hands,  I  go  down  in  a  straight  line  a  dis- 
tance of  sixty-eight  feet ;  then  I  crazvl  through 
a  hole  under  a  large  rock  and  begin  an  ascent 
at  the  same  angle  as  was  the  angle  of  my  de- 
scent. (The  downward  passage,  however, 
continues  straio^ht  on  for  a  distance  of  276  feet 
from  this  point  to  a  cham^ber  in  the  native  rock 
on  which  the  pyramid  is  built.  But  I  had  no 
desire  to  go  down,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  any 
tourist  is  ever  conducted  farther  than  I  was 
taken.)  Up  this  low  passage  I  climb  with 
great  difficulty  for  a  distance  of  125  feet.  I 
am  ready  to  rest.  From  this  point  a  tortuous 
passage  called  the  "well"  leads  far  down  to 
the  chamber  already  referred  to,  in  the  solid, 

58 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

native  rock.  Also  from  this  point  a  horizon- 
tal passageway  leads  out  to  the  ''Queen's 
Chamber,"  110  feet  distant.  This  chamber  is 
eighteen  feet  long,  seventeen  feet  wide,  and 
twenty  feet  high. 

After  seeing  and  making  note  of  these 
things,  I  am  ready  to  continue  my  ascent.  A 
change  is  now  observed  in  the  passageway. 
The  angle  of  ascent  is  the  same,  but  the  pas- 
sage has  widened  to  a  width  of  fifty-eight  in- 
ches and  has  vaulted  to  a  height  of  twenty- 
eight  feet.  These  dimensions  continue  for  a 
distance  of  150  feet  more  of  the  ascent.  This 
division  is  called  the  "Grand  Gallery."  Lying 
against  each  of  the  side  walls  of  the  "gallery," 
extending  through  its  entire  length,  and  ris- 
ing to  a  height  of  about  a  foot  above  the 
floor  proper,  is  a  ramp-stone  about  a  foot 
thick.  Each  of  these  ramp-stones  has  twenty- 
eight  carefully-cut  holes  along  its  top.  And 
while  no  one  knows  the  design  of  the  builders 
in  making  these  holes,  the  visitor  finds  them  a 
help  as  he  climbs  the  ascending  way.  The 
floor  between  these  ramp-stones  is  scarcely 
three  feet  wide.  Along  the  floor  of  this 
"grand  gallery"  I  find  my  hardest  climbing. 
But  here  again  I  discover  that  Nature's  plan 

59 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

for  my  person,  in  building  it  slender,  serves 
me  well.  For  a  while  I  can  cling  fairly  well 
to  the  side-wall,  walking  on  the  foot-wide 
ramp-stone;  and  then,  to  vary  the  manner  of 
climbing,  I  can  "bridge"  the  three-foot  floor 
groove  by  walking  on  both  sides  at  once! 

When  the  upper  terminus  is  reached,  I  am 
wet  with  perspiration,  covered  with  dust,  and 
feel  like  I  think  people  must  feel  just  prior  to 
fainting.  But  I  have  reached  the  highest  point 
of  my  climbing.  By  stooping  very  low  I  now 
pass  under  a  great  granite  portcullis,  (the  only 
remaining  one  of  four),  into  a  vestibule,  and 
a  little  later  I  stand  in  the  celebrated  ''King's 
Chamber,"  the  goal  of  my  seeking.  And  to 
stand  here  is  even  a  rarer  privilege  than  to 
stand  on  the  outside  summit. 

When  my  friend  rose  to  full  height  within 
the  chamber  there  burst  spontaneously  from 
his  lips  in  sweet,  swelling  song  the  words  of 
the  "Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic."  The  story 
of  my  country  of  the  free  so  sweetly  told  in 
that  monument  of  a  land  of  oppression,  echo- 
ing throughout  those  hidden  chambers  and 
dark  galleries  strangely  thrilled  me.  On  he 
sang,  (I  assisting  in  the  chorus).    With  deep 

60 


The  "Coffer"  in  the  Great  Pyramid. 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

pathos  he  began,  and  sang  through  the  last 
stanza : 

"In  the  beauty  of  the  HHes 

Christ  was  born  across  the  sea 
With  a  glory  in  his  bosom 

That  transfigures  you  and  me ; 
As  he  died  to  make  men  holy, 
So  we'll  die  to  make  men  free. 
As  we  go  marching  on." 
A  confession  of  faith  and  a  pledge,  made 
here  in  this  dim-lighted  chamber,  with  flicker- 
ing shadows  dancing  like  specters  about  us ; 
made  to  the  world's  great  Emancipator  who 
was  foreshadowed  here  in  this  land  by  the 
mighty  Moses,  the  eyes  of  whom,  in  infancy, 
looked  upon  this  structure  in  which  we  are 
now  entombed  alive ! 

This  chamber  is  thirty-five  feet  long,  seven- 
teen feet  wide,  and  nineteen  feet  high.  It  is 
walled  with  granite  slabs.  The  roof  is  com- 
posed of  nine  granite  blocks  nearly  nineteen 
feet  long  and  four  feet  wide,  and  is  "possibly 
the  most  skillfully  constructed  piece  of  work- 
manship in  the  world." 

In  the  "King's  Chamber"  there  is  only  one 
object  to  attract  attention — a  coffer,  or  sar- 
cophagus, of  red  granite.    This  coffer  is  seven 

61 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

and  a-half  feet  long,  three  and  a-fourth  feet 
wide,  and  five  and  a-third  feet  high.  Its  sides 
are  about  six  inches  thick.  It  has  no  Hd  or 
covering.  Formerly  relic-hunters  broke  away 
a  considerable  portion  of  one  side,  but  at  pres- 
ent it  is  carefully  guarded  by  the  sworn  guides 
that  accompany  the  visitor. 

Now,  a  calcium  light,  furnished  by  the 
guides,  flares  up,  illuminates  the  place  for  a 
moment,  and  then  dies  out.  Then  our  flicker- 
ing candles  are  extinguished.  Not  a  ray  of 
light !  Oh,  how  dark !  There  is  only  one  other 
place  where  there  ever  came  to  me  a  similar 
sense  of  "an  horrible  darkness" ;  it  is  the  "Star 
Chamber"  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky. 
Inanimate  nature  groaned  when  "Star  Cham- 
ber" was  formed ;  but  when  this  chamber  was 
formed  there  were  heard  the  groans  of  scores 
of  thousands  of  workmen  on  every  side.  So 
when  all  is  dark,  and  there  is  no  sound  to  be 
heard  save  the  beating  of  one's  own  heart, 
which  becomes  quite  noticeable  as  the  mind 
dwells  intelligently  upon  the  past,  the  story  of 
Egypt  comes  like  a  far-off  voice  in  the  night. 
Mighty  kings  and  beautiful  queens  go  trooping 
by  like  visible  shades  in  the  still  denser  dark- 
ness.   And  the  cheering  of  victorious  armies, 

62 


By  The  Overflov^ing  Nile 

the  loud  wailing  of  captive  thousands,  change 
to  the  muffled,  horrifying  speech  of  embalmed 
lips  of  age-long  dead.  This  is  a  prison  of  the 
ages,  where  are  shut  in  the  joys,  ambitions, 
hopes,  tears,  sighs,  sorrows  of  a  nation  with  a 
history  of  a  thousand  years  ere  Abraham  built 
his  first  altar  in  Canaan.  So  like  the  grave  of 
a  race  does  it  become  that  the  musty,  heated, 
foul  air  induces  the  thought  of  being  entombed 
alive.  And  it  is  like  stepping  out  of  a  charnel- 
house  when  our  guides  break  the  excited, 
fancy-filled  reverie  by  striking  a  light  and  tell- 
ing us  to  come  away.  Then,  with  dense  dark- 
ness dispelled  by  the  glimmering  light  of  our 
candles,  I  leave,  I  think,  for  all  time,  what  has 
been  styled  the  most  celebrated  chamber  ever 
constructed  by  man. 

The  way  out  is  marked  with  more  difficulty 
and  attended  with  more  danger  than  we  ex- 
perienced while  going  in.  But  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  scratches  and  chafed  places 
made  by  coming  into  unexpected  contact  with 
the  rocks,  the  task  is  completed  without  dam- 
age or  hurt  to  either  of  us. 

Again  I  breathe  free  air!  Assure  me  that 
I  shall  live  and  die  in  it,  and  I  think  I  shall 
ever  be  grateful. 

63 


Chapter  V. 

Less  than  half  a  mile  ( 1,880  feet),  from  the 
Great  Pyramid,  in  a  southeasterly  direction, 
is  the  colossal  carven  effigy  called  the  Sphinx. 
It  represents  a  great  crouching  figure  having 
the  body  and  paws  of  a  lion,  but  the  elevated 
head  and  chest  are  those  of  a  man.  It  lies 
facing  eastward  toward  the  wonderful  and 
annually  overflowing  Nile.  The  entire  image 
is  carved  out  of  and  remains  a  part  of  the 
rock  on  which  it  rests,  save  a  portion  of  the 
great  paws ;  these  are  partly  built  of  hewn 
masonry. 

Various  measurements  are  given  as  to  its 
size,  but  the  following  are  not  far  from  cor- 
rect: the  length  of  the  body,  155  feet;  the 
height  from  the  paved  floor  between  the  paws 
to  the  top  of  the  head,  63  feet.  The  paws  are 
fifty  feet  long;  the  head,  from  top  to  chin,  is 
twenty-eight  and  a-lialf  feet,  and  is  nearly 
fourteen  feet  broad ;  the  ears  are  six  feet  and 
five  inches  in  length;  the  nose  is  five  feet  and 
ten  inches  in  length  ;  and  the  mouth,  from  angle 
to  angle,  measures  seven  feet  and  eight  inches. 

64 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Originally  there  was  a  cap  and  a  beard  be- 
longing to  it,  but  they  are  gone.  It  is  believed 
that  at  one  time  the  face  was  painted  to  resem- 
ble the  rich  tints  of  a  ruddy  complexion,  but  all 
trace  of  this  also  is  gone,  and  the  paler  features 
of  death  have  for  ages  characterized  the  face 
of  this  mysterious,  fabulous  work  of  the  an- 
cients. 

One  of  the  strange  and  interesting  things 
about  the  Sphinx  is,  that,  while  the  face  is 
carved  in  the  unchanging  rock,  the  expression 
seems  to  change  when  viewed  from  different 
angles,  or  in  different  lights.  The  face  was 
carved  to  represent  the  god  of  the  Egyptians 
called  Harmachu,  or  Horus.  Vandal  kings, 
or  invaders,  long  ago  mutilated  the  face  con- 
siderably, but  still  the  general  expression  has 
not  been  destroyed.  Its  chief  effect  upon  me 
was  that  of  a  benign  royalty  and  majesty  and 
a  dignity  of  poise  that  suggested  half-divinity. 
Having  once  seen  that  face  it  is  never  for- 
gotten. 

To  me,  and  I  think  it  must  similarly  appeal 
to  others,  there  is  a  striking  resemblance  be- 
tween the  head  of  this  Sphinx  and  the  head  of 
a  statue  of  George  Washington,  the  father  of 
my  country. 

65 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

No  student  of  history  has  ever  yet  been  able 
to  fix  with  certainty  the  time  of  its  production. 
There  are  those  who  believe  it  to  be  older  than 
the  oldest  of  the  pyramids.  Others  fix  it  as  a 
production  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  of  Egyptian 
kings.  But  to-day  it  stands,  in  its  origin  and 
purpose,  the  unsolved  riddle  of  the  centuries. 

When  I  saw  the  Sphinx  its  body  was  almost 
covered  with  sand,  but  the  head  and  shoulders 
towered  high  up  as  though  defying  complete 
sepulture.  And  thus  with  body  sand-covered 
the  Sphinx  has  lain,  or  crouched,  almost  all 
through  historic  times.  Twice  in  the  long  ago 
the  great  task  of  disinterring  it  by  removing 
the  sand  was  accomplished — the  first  time  by 
Thotmes  IV,  and  then  again  by  Egypt's  great 
warrior,  Rameses  II.  It  seems  that  their  work 
in  uncovering  was  done  out  of  a  sense  of  reli- 
gious awe,  or  to  receive  in  some  way  the  favor 
of  a  divinity  either  in  this  world  or  hereafter. 
But  after  each  uncovering  the  wind  gathered 
anew  the  sand  and  buried  again  the  body  of 
the  great  efiigy.  In  modern  times  it  has  been 
uncovered  thrice — by  Caviglia,  Mariette,  and 
Maspero.  By  doing  this  by  no  means  small 
work  these  Egyptologists  were  enabled  to  as- 
certain with  certainty  that  it  is  a  part  of  the 

66 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

rock  on  which  it  rests,  and  also  were  able  to 
get  accurate  measurements.  But  again,  as  be- 
fore, it  is  partially  buried.  The  relentless 
winds  and  sands  thus  continue  to  bury,  not 
only  man,  but  also  his  proudest  achievements 
from  the  sight  of  his  successors. 

Between  the  gigantic  paws,  and  partly  ex- 
cavated beneath  the  huge  body  are  to  be  seen 
the  remains  of  the  so-called  ''temple  of  the 
Sphinx."  A  staircase  leads  from  the  pave- 
ment up  to  the  temple,  and  the  temple  itself 
consists  of  six  compartments,  one  above  the 
other. 

And  those  who  have  made  careful  investi- 
gation tell  us  that  an  underground  passage 
leads  from  between  the  paws  of  the  Sphinx 
diagonally  across  to  the  Great  Pyramid — the 
entrance  to  this  passage  being  concealed  by 
a  close-fitting,  great  stone.  And  in  the  con- 
necting of  these  two  enigmatical  structures, 
we  have  the  doubling  of  unsolved  mysteries. 
The  uncertain  age,  the  consummate  skill,  the 
certainty  of  an  intellectual  design  or  purpose 
that  cannot  be  fathomed  first  provokes  and 
then  overwhelms  one. 

The  hurried  visitor  cannot  knozv  much  about 
these  marvels.     But  conjecture  is  not  denied 

67 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

him.  It  is  better  for  him,  in  his  limited  time, 
to  be  familiar  with  the  conclusions  reached  by 
careful,  competent  investigators  after  a  life- 
time spent  in  study,  and  then  let  him  be  a  care- 
ful observer  of  things  as  they  appear,  yielding 
somewhat  to  a  sentiment  induced  by  the  im- 
pressions gotten  here  in  the  presence  of  these 
supreme  wonders  as  they  can  be  gotten  no- 
where else  in  the  world.  Simply  for  this  alone 
it  would  be  worth  the  cost  and  exigencies  of  a 
trip  around  the  globe.  Personally,  I  would 
rather  stand  on  a  scaffold  with  my  ear  to  the 
bloodless  lips  of  the  Sphinx  listening  to  its 
silent  yet  eloquent  story  of  all  historic  time, 
many  of  whose  chief  events  took  place  beneath 
the  gaze  of  this  fixed,  impassive,  stone  face, 
than  to  stand  at  the  point  of  no  longitude  and 
of  but  one  direction,  with  my  arm  encircling 
(  ?)  the  North  Pole ! 

What  a  story  could  this  Sphinx  tell  were  it 
to  change  to  perfect  man  with  accurate  mem- 
ory of  all  that  these  eyes  could  have  seen  and 
these  cars  have  heard !  I  find  myself  stirred 
to  tell  what  I  seemed  to  see  and  hear,  but  I 
shall  leave  it  to  the  reader  to  see  pass  before 
the  stone  face  of  this  effigy  in  panoramic  pro- 

68 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

cession  all  that  his  knowledge  of  history  can 
place  here. 

Day  and  night,  year  after  year,  century  after 
century,  millenium  after  millenium,  has  this 
great  mythical  figure  kept  sleepless  watch  over 
the  vast  necropolis  in  front  of  it  where  lay  the 
ashes  of  the  poor  and  the  embalmed  bodies  of 
the  wealthy  dead.  It  seems  a  silent  expression 
of  faith,  even  for  that  pagan  people,  that  their 
dead  should  not  thus  lie,  forever  dead. 
Throughout  historic  time  it  has  watched  for 
the  sun-rising  of  each  new  day ;  it  has  watched 
each  summer  season  for  the  return  of  the  over- 
flowing Nile,  bringing  riches  and  songs  of  joy 
to  the  people.  It  watched  for  and  saw  the 
coming  of  the  Savior  of  the  world  to  its  land ; 
it  watched  for  the  coming  of  generations  and 
empires,  and  when  they  had  done  their  work 
and  were  buried  in  the  earth,  it  kept  watch 
over  their  graves.  And  to-day  it  watches  the 
representatives  of  all  lands  pass  wonderingly 
before  it.  Let  it  continue  to  watch  for  the 
morning  of  the  long  day  in  which  He  shall 
come  and  Vv^hen  death-dealing  agencies  and 
decay  shall  cease,  and  the  overcome  righteous- 
ness of  the  past  shall  live  again  in  sweet  and 
enduring  triumph. 

69 


9^tm}^W  and  ilt  feerapaeum 

Chapter  VI. 

About  nine  miles  south  of  the  Great  Pyr- 
amid and  the  Sphinx  are  the  ruins  of  old 
Memphis.  This  is  truly  a  desert-trip,  for  in 
the  entire  distance  there  is  no  greenness  of 
vegetation. 

While  I  was  studying  the  great  stone  face 
of  the  Sphinx  from  various  viewpoints  and 
wondering  at  the  changed  expression  as  I 
changed  position,  Abdul  had  arranged  for  our 
trip  to  Memphis  by  securing  two  camels  and 
a  donkey.  When  he  announced  that  all  was 
ready  for  the  trip,  I,  seeing  that  some  one  must 
ride  the  donkey,  asked  for  one  of  the  camels. 
I  did  not  particularly  object  to  the  donkey,  but 
I  had  had  experience  in  donkey-riding  in  Pal- 
estine, and  here  was  a  chance  for  a  new  ex- 
perience ;  hence  it  was  that  I  chose  a  camel. 
It  kneels  for  me  with  much  groaning  and 
complaining,  making  me  feel  half  ashamed 
estine,  and  here  was  a  chance  for  a  new  ex- 
imal  that  seemed  to  look  upon  me  with  such 

70 


r"^i 


fc^«^ 


Km 


.^     Jl 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

a  sense  of  disgust  and  apparently  humiliated 
that  I  should  be  perched  upon  its  hump. 

But  I  clamber  into  the  saddle,  or  instrument 
of  torture,  and  then  being  cautioned  to  hold 
tight,  I  manage  to  keep  my  seat  through  that 
novel  experience  gained  while  the  camel  is 
getting  on  its  feet. 

We  are  ready.  Alpdul  rides  the  other  camel 
and  Mr.  Abraham  has  the  donkey.  I  feel  sorry 
for  him  that  there  is  not  another  camel;  but 
before  Memphis  is  reached  I  feel  sorry  for 
myself  that  there  is  not  another  donkey. 
Camel-riding  may  be  all  right  for  those  who 
are  used  to  it,  but  it  was  not  all  right  for  me. 
We  did  not  ride  rapidly  on  our  outward  jour- 
ney, for  which  I  was  truly  thankful.  The  gait 
of  the  camel  and  the  wooden  frame  called  a 
saddle  conduced  to  beget  a  condition  akin  to 
misery.  How  longingly  I  looked  at  our  don- 
key as  we  neared  the  end  of  our  journey !  My 
mind  is  already  made  up  as  to  the  return  trip. 

Accompanying  us  on  foot  are  the  camel- 
drivers  and  donkey-boy — one  for  each  beast. 
They  run  by  our  side  jabbering  away  in  what 
little  English  they  have  picked  up  from  other 
tourists  and  apparently  never  tiring;  they  will 

71 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

stay  right  with  us  whether  our  beasts  are  walk- 
ing or  racing. 

We  consumed  two  hours  and  a  quarter  in 
covering  the  nine  miles,  and  were  then,  not  in 
Memphis,  but  above  Memphis.  It  is  a  sand- 
buried  city.  And  save  for  the  few  excavations 
that  have  been  made  in  recent  times  no  traveler 
here  would  suspect  the  presence  beneath  his 
feet  of  the  magnificent  ruins  of  the  once  proud 
city  of  the  Pharaohs, 

Before  touring  the  ruins  we  lunch  on  the 
veranda  of  "Mariette  House,"  a  modern,  in- 
expensive building  named  in  honor  of  the 
great  French  Egyptologist,  and  the  only  house 
on  the  surface  for  miles  in  every  direction. 
Immediately  after  lunch  we  begin  our  investi- 
gations. 

History  tells  us  that  Memphis  was  probably 
the  capital  of  Egypt  from  the  third  to  the 
eighth  dynasty.  The  Greeks  claimed  Menes 
as  its  founder,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  the  claim 
can  be  established.  While  the  Hyksos  were  in 
power  in  Egypt  (2000  to  1500  B.  C),  Mem- 
phis lost  its  glory;  but  it  seems  to  have  seen 
a  revival  and  extension  of  power  after  the 
eighteenth  dynasty.  When  Alexandria  was 
founded  its  importance  again  waned  never  to 

72 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

return.  And  later,  much  of  the  beauty  and 
magnificence  of  Memphis  was  taken  away  to 
embelHsh  the  new  city  of  Cairo ;  and  for  nearly 
a  thousand  years  its  site  was  scarcely  known. 
At  one  time  there  was  evidently  a  strong  wall 
to  protect  the  city  from  the  inundation  of  the 
Nile,  but  it,  too,  is  gone;  and  at  the  time  of 
my  visit  the  river  was  spread  out  over  much 
of  the  space  where  the  city  had  stood.  Recent 
excavations  have  brought  to  light  much  valu- 
able knowledge. 

Let  us  first  go  to  the  tombs  of  "Thy."  To 
get  to  them  we  descend  a  rod  or  two  in  a  trench 
cut  at  a  steep  incline  to  the  entrance,  which 
is  barred  to  all  except  such  as  are  accompanied 
by  a  regularly-authorized  guide.  The  sides 
of  this  entrance-passage  are  boarded  up  to  hold 
back  the  sand,  and  a  custodian  must  give  the 
passage  almost  daily  attention  or  in  a  little 
while  all  will  be  filled  in  level  as  before. 

Seeing  that  we  are  properly  escorted,  the 
custodian  opens  the  wooden  door  to  us  and 
we  are  ushered  into  the  tomb ;  but  it  seems  to 
me  more  like  I  must  be  in  a  parlor  or  drawing- 
room  of  some  ancient  wealthy  son  of  Egypt. 
The  walls  are  highly  ornamented  in  relief  with 
illustrations  of  Egyptian  life  and  customs  of 

73 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

those  early  times.  And  some  of  these  illustra- 
tions are  painted  in  colors  that  have  defied 
time  by  still  retaining  their  brilliancy.  This 
tomb,  if  such  it  really  were,  has  several  cham- 
bers, and  all  are  interesting,  even  to  one  who 
does  not  know  how  to  decipher  a  single  hiero- 
glyphic. 

We  visit  several  other  such  tombs,  the  most 
noted  of  which  are  those  of  "Meri."  The 
same  general  characteristics  prevail  here  as 
in  the  tombs  of  ''Thy." 

Back  a  little  farther  from  the  Nile,  where 
must  have  been  the  outskirts  of  the  ancient 
city,  in  a  low  cliff  is  the  Serapaeum,  or  tomb 
of  the  gods,  or  Sacred  Bulls,  of  Memphis. 

Egypt  was  a  land  of  gods.  Socrates  said 
that  the  people  were  religious  to  excess,  and 
that  it  was  easier  to  find  a  god  in  Eg}'pt  than 
a  man.  And  a  writer  in  the  "Schaff-Herzog 
Encyclopedia"  says:  ''Religion  in  some  form 
or  other  was  dominant  in  every  relation  of  life 
in  ancient  Egypt.  The  Egyptian  deities  were 
literally  innumerable.  Every  town  and  village 
had  its  local  patrons.  Every  month  of  the 
year,  every  day  of  the  month,  and  every  hour 
of  the  day  and  night  had  its  presiding  divinity. 
All   these   gods    had   to   be    propitiated ;   and 

74 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Egyptian  life  thus  became  a  constant  round  of 
rehgious  and  semi-religious  ceremonies  and 
festivals  which  amazed  the  foreigner."  This 
same  writer  further  states  that,  "Egyptian  re- 
ligion presents  two  very  remarkable  features : 
its  worship  of  the  dead,  and  its  worship  of 
sacred  animals.  *  *  *  Some  kinds  of  an- 
imals were  held  sacred  universally,  others  re- 
ceived only  a  local  veneration.  To  the  first 
class  belonged  the  cat,  sacred  to  Bast,  or  Sek- 
het ;  the  ibis  and  the  cynocephalous  ape,  sacred 
to  Thoth ;  the  hawk  and  the  beetle,  sacred  to 
Ra,  etc.  None  of  these  animals  were  allowed 
to  be  killed  or  injured.  In  each  locality  where 
any  kind  of  an  animal  was  sacred,  some  indi- 
viduals of  the  species  were  attached  to  the 
principal  temple,  where  they  had  their  special 
shrines  or  chambers,  and  their  train  of  priestly 
attendants,  who  carefully  fed  them  and  cleaned 
them.  When  they  died,  they  were  embalmed 
according  to  the  most  approved  method,  and 
entombed  with  much  pomp  and  ceremony." 

But  the  Serapaeum  was  not  the  tomb  of  any 
of  the  universal  gods  named  in  the  preceding 
paragraph.  It  was  the  tomb  of  the  Apis- 
bulls — the  supreme  local  god  of  Memphis, 
worshiped  for  centuries  after  the  eighteenth 

75 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

dynasty,  (and  possibly  as  early  as  the  second 
dynasty),  as  a  divine  revelation  in  animal  form 
of  Osiris,  which,  by  some  is,  after  all,  identified 
with  Ra,  the  sun  god.  Since  the  same  god,  in 
essence,  is  worshiped  under  so  many  different 
names,  or  forms,  varying  in  name  according 
to  locality,  it  is  confusing  to  try  to  classify 
accurately  with  the  limited  knowledge  at  hand. 
But  the  Apis  was  the  chief  god  of  Memphis, 
and  one  of  the  chief  gods  of  Egypt,  though 
it  seems  that  the  form  and  name  were  different 
when  worshiped  elsewhere.  Since  the  life  of 
an  Apis-bull  was  scarcely  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  the  religion  that  teaches  the  ne- 
cessity of  worshiping  such  an  animal  must 
either  die  when  the  animal  dies  or  must  have 
provision  made  for  immediate  succession  by  a 
living  similar  animal.  And  the  Egyptians  had 
such  provision  carefully  made  and  as  carefully 
carried  out.  How  this  was  done  is  best  told 
by  quoting  again  from  the  ''Schaff-Herzog  En- 
cyclopedia" :  'The  marks  by  which  an  Apis 
was  recognized  were  a  black-colored  hide,  a 
white  spot  of  a  triangular  shape  on  the  fore- 
head, the  hair  arranged  on  the  back  in  the 
form  of  an  eagle,  a  twist  of  the  lower  mem- 
branes of  the  tongue  in  likeness  with  the  shape 

76 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

of  a  scarabaeus,  etc.  When  these  marks  were 
discovered  on  a  calf,  the  animal  was  carried 
with  great  solemnity  to  Memphis,  and  when 
the  old  Apis  died  a  natural  death,  (in  which 
case  it  was  carefully  embalmed),  or  when  it 
reached  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  ( in  which 
case  it  was  secretly  killed  by  the  priests),  the 
new  Apis  was  installed  in  the  temple  as  an  in- 
carnate god.  The  birth  of  an  Apis  was  consid- 
ered an  occasion  of  popular  joy,  and  the  death 
an  occasion  of  popular  mourning.  All  the 
movements  of  an  Apis  were  watched  with  the 
closest  attention  by  the  priests,  and  interpreted 
as  involving  oracles." 

But  let  us  visit  the  tomb.  The  site  is  covered 
to-day  with  about  sixty  feet  of  sand,  and,  while 
at  one  time  there  were  magnificent  approaches 
something  like  those  which  may  yet  be  seen 
before  other  tombs  and  temples  in  Egypt,  the 
present  remains  here  are  all  beneath  the  sur- 
face. 

This  tomb  was  discovered  by  Mariette  in 
1851,  but  at  some  time  prior  to  his  visit  the 
tomb  had  been  entered  and  despoiled  of  its 
treasures.  But  even  to-day  it  is  surely  worth 
entering ;  and  careful,  thoughtful  investigation 
will  richly  repay  the  tourist. 

77 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

To  enter,  we  go  down  a  steep  incline — a 
passage  shoveled  out  of  the  sand — to  the  door 
of  the  tomb.  When  the  custodian  swings  open 
the  improvised  wooden  door  that  now  takes 
the  place  of  an  ancient  door  of  granite  or 
porphyry,  we  find  ourselves  standing  at  the 
mouth  of  an  artificial  cave,  cut  into  the  lime- 
stone cliff,  and  having  an  average  width  of 
at  least  ten  feet,  and  a  height  of  seventeen  or 
eighteen  feet. 

After  lighting  our  candles  we  are  led  slowly 
along  this  great  cavern  cut  in  the  everlasting 
rock.  Just  a  few  yards  from  the  entrance  is 
a  great  granite  sarcophagus  sitting  in  the  pas- 
sageway; it  is  thirteen  feet  long,  eleven  feet 
high,  and  seven  feet  wide.  While  it  is  large, 
it  still  leaves  room  enough  for  us  to  pass  by 
easily.  We  press  our  way  on  until  we  have 
penetrated  the  cliff  to  a  distance  of  nearly 
twelve  hundred  feet !  Having  reached  the  end 
of  the  main  gallery  we  slowly  retrace  our  steps, 
peering  into  the  side-chambers,  sixty-four  of 
them,  connected  with  the  main  gallery  in  which 
we  stand.  We  enter  some  of  the  side-cham- 
bers. They  are  twenty-six  feet  in  height. 
Twenty-four  of  them  contain  granite  sarcoph- 
agi of  like  size  and  appearance  as  the  one  al- 

7S 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

ready  mentioned  as  sitting  in  the  entrance-way 
of  the  tomb.  In  the  earHer  tombs  each  Apis 
had  its  own  chapel,  which  was  connected  by  an 
incHned  passage  with  the  chamber  in  which 
its  embalmed  body  rested  in  its  own  stone  sar- 
cophagus. The  chapels,  as  separate  rooms, 
seem  to  be  wanting  in  the  Serapaeum  as  we 
know  it. 

Only  three  of  the  twenty-five  sarcophagi  are 
inscribed  with  hieroglyphics.  By  means  of  a 
short  ladder  I  climb  up  to  look  into  one  from 
which  the  great  stone  lid  was  pushed  back  a 
little  way.  But  the  coffin  was  empty — they 
are  all  empty.  The  mummies  of  the  Sacred 
Bulls  have  all  been  taken  from  the  Serapaeum ; 
some  may  now  be  seen  in  the  Boulak  Museum 
opposite  Cairo,  and  others  are  to  be  found 
elsewhere  in  the  world's  great  museums  of 
antiquities. 

It  surely  was  a  stupendous  undertaking  to 
carve  out  this  great  gallery  and  the  side- 
chambers  ;  and  it  was  no  easy  task  to  carve 
and  place  these  sarcophagi  of  stone,  each 
weighing,  it  is  estimated,  sixty  tons.  And  why 
was  it  done?  To  gratify  a  sentiment  born  of 
a  sense  of  religious  obligation ;  and  though  it 
was  all  done  apparently  to  show  respect  for 

79 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

and  to  give  honor  and  reverence  to  a  dead  an- 
imal, the  student  of  man's  ethical  nature  must 
see  beyond  the  external  magnificence  of  the 
sepulture  of  Egypt's  gods  the  God,  not  fully 
understood,  of  Egypt's  lasting  hope. 

Possibly  among  Egypt's  many  displays  of 
royalty-reception  and  victory-celebration  there 
were  never  seen  a  grander,  a  more  sublime,  a 
more  solemn  spectacle  than  was  seen  right  here 
when  one  of  the  embalmed  Apis-bulls  was 
brought  in  funeral  train  of  innumerable,  in- 
cense-burning and  prayer-chanting  priests  and 
multitudes  of  soldiers  and  common  people  with 
tear-filled  eyes  and  sigh-freighted  voices,  to 
this  cave  and  to  this  chamber,  and  to  this  coffin 
into  which  I  am  now  looking, — for  Egypt's 
god  was  dead,  and  Egypt's  heart  was  bowed  in 
disconsolate  grief.  Do  you  smile?  And,  like- 
wise, if  the  record  of  our  doings  is  intelligible 
to  earth's  people  in  the  year  10,000  A.  D.,  may 
they  smile  at  us. 

When  we  leave  the  Serapaeum  the  afternoon 
is  far  advanced;  but  still  we  must  mount  the 
crumbling  ruins  of  one  or  two  of  the  ancient 
pyramids  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  to 
get  a  last  and  better  view  of  the  place  where 
once  stood  the  proud  and  prosperous  city  of 

80 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

the  Pharaohs,  but  which  is  now  hid  so  com- 
pletely under  the  sand-sea  of  death.  The 
necropolis,  four  and  a-third  miles  long  by  one- 
third  of  a  mile  wide,  the  desert  to  the  south, 
the  cliffs  and  desert  to  the  west,  the  desert  and 
pyramids  to  the  north,  the  overflowing  Nile 
to  the  east — all  these  present  a  scene  that 
is  strangely  impressive  at  the  close  of  a  day 
so  rich  in  experiences  as  this  one  has  been 
to  me. 

But  the  low-descending  sun  warns  us  to  de- 
part or  night  will  come  while  yet  we  are  far 
from  Cairo.  We  hurry  down  from  our  ele- 
vated viewpoint ;  I  beg  for  the  donkey,  and 
get  it;  and  soon  we  are  hastening  homeward. 
Our  way  back  leads  along  the  water.  At  two 
places  I  can  see  the  remains  of  causeways 
leading  from  the  river  to  pyramids ;  these  were 
built  to  make  possible  the  bringing  of  great 
rocks  from  the  river  to  the  place  of  pyramid- 
structure. 

At  no  place  do  we  halt;  we  move  on  hur- 
riedly, at  times  racing  our  animals  in  good- 
natured  fashion,  until  Captain  Abraham  calls 
a  halt,  saying,  'T  am  tired  of  this  beast;  I 
want  my  donkey!" 

81 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

"But,"  said  I,  "you  had  the  donkey  on  the 
outward  trip ;  I  ought  to  have  it  now." 

"Yes,"  said  he,  "but  I  am  in  misery — my 
head  aches  so;  and  I'd  be  glad  if  you'd  ex- 
change with  me." 

Noting  a  look  of  ill-concealed  pain  in  his 
face,  I  dismounted,  though  loath  to  make  the 
exchange,  and  was  soon  again  on  the  animal 
and  the  instrument  of  torture.  I  dreaded  the 
rest  of  the  trip,  although  scarcely  a  fourth  of 
the  entire  distance  remained. 

When  we  reached  the  Sphinx  the  stars  were 
out.  I  was  urging  my  beast  forward  that  we 
might  catch  the  first  trolley  car,  when,  dozvn 
on  his  knees  went  my  camel!  and  over  his  head 
in  ungraceful  style  w^ent  his  rider !  Here  he 
was  loaded,  and  here  he  meant  to  be  unloaded. 
And  he  did  it  quickly  and  unceremoniously. 
Lucky  for  me  that  the  alighting-place  was 
sand  and  not  rock ! 

When  I  rose  and  brushed  the  sand  from  my 
clothes,  it  seemed  that  that  old  stone  face  was 
wreathed  in  a  sort  of  mummy  smile  at  my  mis- 
fortune. But  I  do  not  resent  it.  Possibly  it 
was  funny — to  others !  I  leave  the  camel  to 
his  driver,  who  should  have  warned  me,  but 
did  not  do   so,   and  hurry  on   foot  past  the 

82 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Great  Pyramid  now  looming  up  as  a  giant 
gathering  strength  in  the  darkening  evening- 
time.  It  was  massive  when  seen  in  the  full 
glare  of  the  bright  noon-tide,  but  the  twilight 
and  the  deepening  night  seemed  to  multiply 
its  gigantic  massiveness. 

How  shall  I  ever  forget,  or  can  it  be  possible 
that  there  will  ever  be  a  time  in  my  life  when 
I  shall  be  unstirred  by  even  the  remembrance 
of  a  day  when  I  kept  company  with  earth's 
greatest  builders  and  held  converse  with  them 
in  studying  their  most  stupendous  works,  ac- 
complished in  an  age  of  matchless  achieve- 
ments ! 


83 


3v  Eail  to  ^itht0 

Chapter  VII. 

A  TRIP  to  the  'iand  of  the  Nile"  is  scarcely 
more  than  half  made  if  Upper  Egypt  is  not 
included  in  the  visit.  To  go  to  Thebes,  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  upper  division,  and  situ- 
ated at  a  distance  of  550  miles  from  Cairo,  was 
my  next  ambition. 

In  our  arrangement  for  the  trip  it  was  de- 
cided that  we  would  go  by  rail  and  that  we 
would  take  Abdul  with  us  as  our  dragoman. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  we  boarded 
the  train  and  took  our  seats  in  a  third-class 
coach.  There  are  few  conveniences  in  travel- 
ing third-class  in  Egypt,  but  by  doing  so  we 
were  in  the  company  of  the  peasantry  of  the 
land,  and  thus  were  afforded  an  excellent  op- 
portunity to  study  it  at  close  quarters. 

This  ride  proved  to  be  the  most  disagreeable 
that  I  had  ever  taken  anywhere  on  a  train. 
Fine  dust,  picked  up  by  the  suction  caused  by 
the  movement  of  the  train,  filled  the  car  and 
settled  on  the  seats,  on  our  clothing — every- 

84 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

where — until  I  could  write  legibly  in  it  with 
my  finger;  and  at  places  on  the  floor  of  the 
car  it  was  fully  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  deep 
before  sundown.  I  inhaled  so  much  of  the 
dust  that  I  felt  like  I  used  to  feel  after  working 
for  a  day  at  the  rear  of  an  old-time  threshing- 
machine. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  discomfort  of  the 
train,  there  was  much  along  the  way  to  inter- 
est me.  It  was  the  harvest  time  for  oranges 
and  sugar-cane  in  the  Nile  valley.  And  as  we 
had  made  little  provision  for  lunch,  (except 
that  Abdul  had  secured  some  hard-boiled  eggs 
and  rather  stale  bread  at  one  of  the  stopping- 
places),  we  do  as  our  hungry  fellow-travelers 
do.  At  every  stopping-place  the  natives  of 
the  place  run  along  the  train  carrying  great 
armfuls  of  sugar  cane  and  crying  out,  ''gos- 
sofr  (sugar-cane).  The  hungry  people  within 
raise  their  windows  and  purchase  a  few  long 
stalks  of  cane  as  eagerly  as  hungry  travelers 
in  America  buy  sandwiches  of  the  venders  who 
visit  "through  trains"  at  their  known  stopping- 
places. 

We,  too,  buy  sugar-cane.  Then  a  busy 
scene  is  presented  all  through  that  car — people 
tearing  away  the  outer  hard  rind  of  the  cane 

85 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

with  knives  or  teeth  and  then  chewing  the  juicy 
pith  for  the  sweetness  and  nourishment  it  con- 
tained. No  one  seemed  to  think  of  throwing 
any  refuse  matter  from  the  car,  but  instead 
threw  rind  and  chewed  pith  on  the  floor,  just 
anywhere ;  so  that  in  a  half  hour  after  hmch 
began  the  Htter  was  so  abundant  that  it  re- 
minded me  of  what  I  had  seen  about  a  neigh- 
bor's cane-mill  in  my  early  childhood. 

There  is  no  water  on  this  car,  either  to  drink 
or  to  serve  for  toilet  purposes.  So,  when  the 
natives  pass  along  the  train  crying  ''moya!" 
(water),  most  of  the  passengers  are  keenly 
interested.  The  water-venders  have  little 
earthen  jars  holding  about  a  quart  of  water 
each,  which  they  ofifer  for  sale — jar  and  water, 
or  simply  a  drink  from  the  jar.  For  a  payment 
of  about  a  cent  they  will  hand  the  jar  to  you 
and  you  may  drink  all  you  want,  placing  your 
lips  just  where  a  filthy  fellow-traveler,  seated 
in  front  of  you,  had  placed  his  lips  and  had 
drunk  until  he  gurgled  satisfaction ;  or  for  the 
payment  of  a  piastre  (five  cents),  you  can  pur- 
chase the  jar  with  the  water,  and  thus  have 
some  of  the  precious  liquid  to  carry  with  you. 

But  where  did  they  get  the  water?  I  saw 
several  of  these  men  replenish  their  jars  by 

86 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

rushing  down  to  water  left  in  depressions  by 
the  overflowing  Nile,  and  now  almost  stag- 
nant pools.  After  seeing  this,  the  water 
seemed  offensive,  even  though  I  was  very 
thirsty.  But  the  natives  will  drink  Nile-water 
even  when  it  is  decidedly  muddy;  and  they 
will  express  surprise  at  your  refusal  to  drink. 

It  is  the  time  for  seed-sowing.  Hundreds, 
even  thousands,  of  petty  farmers  are  busy  pre- 
paring the  fresh  soil — in  some  places  literally 
working  in  mud.  The  plow  used  by  them  is 
very  crude ;  it  is  all  of  wood,  except  a  tiny  bit 
of  iron  on  the  point.  The  team  is  composed 
of  buffalo  cows,  or  is  frequently  a  mixed  team 
of  which  one  animal  is  a  camel.  But  where 
the  ground  was  quite  recently  left  bare  by  the 
receding  water,  no  plowing  is  done.  The  seed 
is  sown  and  is  then  covered  by  means  of  a  kind 
of  hand-rake. 

In  a  number  of  places  I  see  people  engaged 
in  irrigating  small  tracts  that  are  already  dry- 
ing too  rapidly  for  their  crops.  The  process 
is  simple,  and  is  as  follows :  Numerous  shal- 
low ditches  are  opened  systematically  for  con- 
veying to  needy  points  any  water  placed  in 
them.  To  get  the  water  from  the  river  they 
resort  to  the  use  of  2i"shadoof."    This  instru- 

87 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

ment  consists  of  an  upright  post,  placed  on  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and  a  long  pole  that  rests 
on  the  top  of  this  post  at  almost  equal  bal- 
ance. On  the  river-end  of  the  pole  is  a  water- 
tight basket,  fastened  by  a  rope  sufficiently 
long  to  permit  the  basket  to  be  dipped  into 
the  river.  The  other  end  of  the  pole  is 
weighted  with  rock  until  sufficiently  heavy  to 
overcome  the  water-filled  basket.  Two  men 
are  required  to  operate  a  ''shadoof  success- 
fully— one  to  stand  down  at  the  river  and  dip 
the  basket,  and  the  other  to  stand  on  the  bank 
to  receive  the  wate^  and  pour  it  into  the  feed- 
ing channel  prepared  for  it.  This  is  primitive 
irrigation,  but  it  is  sure,  as  long  as  the  river 
will  furnish  the  water  and  men  will  utilize  it. 
All  along  the  river  are  signs  of  industry.  It 
is  a  busy  scene,  a  scene  of  life  that  greets  the 
eye ;  it  is  a  reviving  of  life,  though  it  is  late 
November;  it  is  the  "spring  time"  of  Egypt. 
The  grass  is  springing,  and  in  some  places  the 
wheat.  Many  palm-trees  add  beauty  to  the 
scene.  Everywhere  are  seen  people — work- 
ing, talking,  singing.  It  is  so  refreshing  to 
catch  occasionally  the  happy  song  of  these  men 
and  women  living  so  close  to  Nature ;  it  tells 
of  a  buoyant  hope  that  m.akes  them  forget  the 

88 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

hard  lot  of  the  toiler,  for  in  simple  faith  he  al- 
ready has  the  fruition  of  his  labor.  And  yon- 
der, the  Nile  flows  on,  the  "river  of  life"  in  an 
important  sense,  to  all  these  people  and  to  their 
valley.  No  wonder  that  the  ancients  consid- 
ered this  mighty  river  sacred  and  worshiped 
it  for  its  gift  of  overflowing  waters ! 

We  pass  many  villages  during  this  day's 
ride,  the  most  important  and  modern  of  which 
are  Assiout,  Girgeh,  and  Keneh.  In  some 
places  the  extent  of  the  fertility  and  the  beauty 
of  the  landscape  are  far  beyond  what  I  had  ex- 
pected to  find  here. 

But  the  day  is  done.  After  an  unusually 
beautiful  sunset,  night  came  down  quickly, 
bringing  with  it  a  chill  that  made  the  dusty, 
littered  coach  quite  uncomfortable.  Wrapped 
up  in  my  overcoat  I  am  trying  to  keep  warm 
and  steal  a  little  sleep,  when,  at  nine  o'clock, 
our  train  came  to  a  standstill !  Many  voices 
were  heard ;  many  lights  were  seen,  in  a  little 
while  the  news  spreads  that  we  must  transfer 
to  another  train  ahead  of  us.  Then,  by  fol- 
lowing the  crowd,  I  saw  and  understood  what 
they  could  not  clearly  explain  to  me.  When 
the  Nile  had  receded  from  its  overflow  it  was 
discovered   that   for   a   considerable   distance 

89 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

the  railroad  track  had  been  washed  away.  We 
passed  by  where  a  multitude  of  laborers  were 
at  work,  and  where  others  were  lying  in  rows 
upon  the  ground  asleep.  In  talking  with  an 
English  overseer  of  this  work,  he  told  me  that 
over  nineteen  hundred  people  were  engaged 
in  making  the  repairs.  I  asked  what  wages  the 
men  were  paid.  He  said,  *'We  simply  board 
them ;  their  lodging  costs  nothing,  as  you  see." 
"But,"  said  I,  "why  do  you  have  so  many 
here?"  "Well,"  said  he,  "they  have  httle  to 
eat  at  home,  and  when  these  are  away  there 
is  more  food  for  those  who  are  left.  They  must 
live ;  they  work  their  turn  here  and  get  their 
living,  and  those  at  home  fare  better  because 
of  their  absence.'' 

With  a  heavy  heart,  I  crossed  the  pontoon 
bridge  to  the  train  that  was  waiting  for  us  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river.  Were  not  Nature 
kind  to  earth's  poor,  how  soon  they  would  be 
compelled  to  surrender  in  the  struggle  to  make 
a  living. 

On  in  the  darkness  and  chill  of  that  night 
we  hastened  until  an  hour  and  a-half  past 
midnight,  when  our  destination,  Luxor,  was 
reached.  The  quarters  secured  for  us  were 
not  at  all  satisfactory  to  us,  but  at  such  an 

90 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

hour  in  the  night  it  was  the  best  that  could  be 
done.  At  two  o'clock  we  found  ourselves  in 
a  bare  room,  with  ground  floor  and  destitute 
of  furniture  except  two  rickety  cots,  not  worthy 
to  be  called  beds.  Here,  between  waking  and 
sleeping,  we  waged  an  unsuccessful  fight  with 
fleas  until  six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Though 
little  sleep  came  to  me,  I  welcomed  the  return 
of  day,  for  then  I  could  with  safety  leave  that 
dirty,  vermin-filled  den. 


91 


m 


DM  CRAM 

RltlNS    OF  THEBES 

---•  y^ept-csenfs  the.  4uthCi^'s  touy- 


Chapter  VIII. 
And  this  is  Thebes,  ''hundred-gated"  The- 
bes !  That  is,  here  Thebes  once  stood,  extend- 
ing many  miles  along  both  sides  of  the  river. 
Where  the  ancient  city  stood  are  now  the  mod- 
ern villages  of  Luxor  and  Karnak  and  the 
ruins  of  numerous  temples,  the  most  noted 
of  which  are  in  or  near  the  towns  just  named. 
The  necropolis  of  the  city,  and  also  a  number 
of  important  temples,  were  on  the  west  side 
of  the  river.  At  Thebes  the  valley  is  wider 
than  elsewhere  except  in  the  Delta ;  and  the 
greater  part  of  it  lies  on  the  east  side  of  the 
stream.  While  the  city  proper  was  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Nile  yet  it  is  estimated  that 
about  one-fourth  of  the  population  resided  on 
the  west  side.  These  were  priests  and  other 
functionaries  of  the  temples,  and  those  who 
had  the  care  of  the  dead — embalming,  making 
and  painting  the  sarcophagi,  burying  the  dead, 
and  carving  epitaphs,  etc.  The  Lybian  hills 
are  literally  honeycombed  with  tombs. 

93 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

It  is  difficult  to  fix  a  date  for  the  beginning 
of  Thebes ;  but  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that 
the  city  reached  small  degree  of  importance 
until  about  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  dynasty. 
During  the  time  that  the  Hyksos  had  complete 
control  of  all  Lower  Egypt  the  native  rulers 
seem  to  have  retired  from  Memphis  and  other 
towns  of  note  to  this  place,  which  they  made 
their  capital,  though  they  still  paid  tribute 
to  the  Hyksos. 

After  a  stormy  and  uncertain  period  in  the 
seventeenth  dynasty,  there  came,  in  the  two 
succeeding  dynasties,  the  strong  kings,  Thot- 
mes  III  and  Rameses  II,  whose  mighty  prow- 
ess in  war  made  all  other  nations  tremble  with 
anxiety  for  their  own  independence  and  safety. 
And,  too,  these  great  warriors  were  great 
builders.  The  visitor  to  their  ancient  capital 
can  yet  see  very  many  and  stupendous  works 
that  are  the  result  of  their  decrees. 

Thebes  also  at  this  time  became  a  great 
religious  city,  under  the  tutelary  divinity, 
Amon-Ra,  ranking  third  among  the  sacred 
cities  of  Egypt,  in  the  estimation  of  the  peo- 
ple,— only  excelled  by  Abydos  and  Heliopolis. 
Thebes  owed  its  reputation  for  sanctity  to  the 

94 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

prevailing  belief  that  it  was  the  birthplace  of 
the  god,  Osiris. 

After  the  twentieth  dynasty  it  seems  that  a 
desire  to  re-locate  the  supreme  power  in  Egypt 
at  some  city  in  the  Delta  finally  prevailed.  Then 
Thebes  began  to  lose  her  power  and  political 
importance.  Then  into  the  quarrels  of  Egypt 
came  a  new,  a  deciding  factor — the  Romans. 
In  B.  C.  85,  Thebes  died  as  a  political  power. 
No  more  gigantic  building  was  undertaken; 
Amon-Ra  was  less  honored,  since  Thebes  was 
in  defeat ;  the  priests  deserted  the  temples,  and 
the  sacred  fires  died  out  upon  the  altars,  and 
the  statues  of  stone  stood  silent  watchmen  of 
the  ruthless  invaders  of  the  early  centuries 
and  of  the  vandals  of  later  days.  And  though 
the  devastation  was  exceedingly  great  there 
are  yet  to  be  seen  the  marks  of  a  national 
pride  and  a  religious  zeal  as  lasting  as  the 
rock-hewn  tomb  or  the  mysteriously-embalmed 
human  body. 

Here  at  Thebes  we  shall  tarry  until,  in  this 
and  in  the  two  succeeding  chapters,  I  have  told 
the  story  of  my  visit. 

At  7 :  30  o'clock  on  the  morning  after  our 
arrival  at  Luxor  there  appeared  suddenly  be- 
fore us  three  donkeys  and  three  donkey-boys. 

95 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

The  boys  stayed  with  us  all  of  two  days,  yet 
I  never  heard  the  name  of  a  single  one  of 
them.  That  seemed  an  unimportant  matter. 
But  we  were  promptly  informed  that  the 
names  of  the  donkeys  were  "Yankee  Doodle," 
"Rameses,"  and  "Thotmes."  Abdul  mounted 
the  first  named,  Captain  Abraham  stepped 
astride  of  "Rameses,"  and  'Thotmes"  became 
mine,  "for  better  or  for  worse,"  for  two  days. 

Then  the  donkey-boys  gave  us  a  good  start. 
But  as  we  were  rounding  a  little  turn  in  the 
road-street,  we  came  suddenly  to  a  spot  where 
some  water  had  just  been  poured  out;  we  saw 
it  too  late  to  check  our  beasts,  and,  look! 
"Rameses"  is  "skidding"  on  his  knees !  Cap- 
tain Abraham's  four  years  of  cavalry  service 
serves  him  well  here;  he  is  not  the  least  dis- 
concerted, but  steps  right  on,  out  over  the  head 
of  his  donkey,  and  waits  until  the  beast  has 
again  gotten  control  of  himself,  and  then  with 
a  quizzical  look,  says,  "Very  well,  'Rameses' ; 
but  we'll  try  it  again."  Again  he  threw  his 
limb  over  the  diminutive  animal,  and  before 
the  rest  of  us  could  feel  that  the  humor  of  it 
was  half  laughed  out  we  had  reached  the  river. 

Since  our  objective  point  is  the  Valley  of 
the  Tombs  of  the  Kings,  we  must  expect  to 

96 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

find  it  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  that 
means  that  we  must  in  some  way  cross  the 
stream. 

Into  one  of  the  numerous  open  boats,  lying 
near  the  shore  our  donkeys  are  driven  after 
much  resistance  upon  their  part;  we  follow 
into  the  boat;  the  sail  is  spread,  and  we  are 
soon  wafted  across  the  turbid,  yellow  waters 
to  the  other  side.  But  the  boat  grounds  while 
yet  there  is  left  a  rod  or  two  of  water  between 
us  and  dry  land.  The  donkeys  are  made  to 
jump  overboard  and  wade  out ;  we  are  carried 
out  by  the  boatmen  just  as  if  we  were  help- 
less children. 

We  must  now  pass  over  a  considerable  dis- 
tance of  sand-stretches  in  which  are  numerous 
depressions  filled  with  water  during  the  recent 
overflow ;  they  are  not  yet  dried  up  even  in 
the  higher  portions  of  the  bed  of  the  Nile.  To 
save  distance  we  rode  through  several  of  these, 
but  in  one  of  them  our  guide  had  trouble  by 
miring  his  donkey ;  and  the  more  he  urged  his 
beast  the  deeper  he  sank  until  half  his  body 
was  submerged.  Then  Abdul  sprang  from  the 
donkey  and  tried  to  extricate  him,  but  without 
success.  It  was  only  by  calling  to  his  aid  some 
laborers  near  by  that  he  was  able  to  release 

97 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

"Yankee  Doodle/'  A  little  later,  after  we  had 
passed  on  a  half-mile  or  more,  I  saw  a  tourist 
have  a  similar  trouble  in  the  same  pool. 

Now  on  solid  ground  we  ride  rapidly  along 
the  bank  of  the  river  in  a  northerly  direction, 
halting  first  before  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of 
Sethos  I,  at  Kurnah.  This  is  our  initiation  to 
a  study  of  the  temples  of  Egypt — a  study  that 
might  be  continued  with  profit  for  years ;  but 
when  that  study  is  limited  to  days  few  in  num- 
ber, the  subject,  at  first  fascinating,  and  al- 
ways dazzling  and  amazing,  becomes  confusing 
and  mystifying.  We  can  only  hope  to  give  a 
superficial  account;  and  what  we  do  say  of 
them  will  be  found  chiefly  in  the  next  two 
chapters.  And  when  in  those  chapters  the 
larger  and  more  imposing  temples  are  de- 
scribed, the  description  will  in  a  general  way 
apply  to  this  temple,  and  to  all. 

We  give  some  time  to  inspecting  the  re- 
markable ruins  of  this  temple  which  was  518 
feet  long  and  had  its  pylons,  courts,  colon- 
nades, hypostyle  hall,  side-chambers,  sanctu- 
ary, etc.,  and  then  we  face  the  cliffs  at  the 
western  side  of  the  Nile  plain.  But  between 
us  and  the  cliflfs  lies  the  necropolis,  or  burying- 
ground,  of  the  ancient  Thebans — a  territory* 

98 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

of  large  extent,  but  now  thoroughly  dug  over 
by  representatives  of  museums  and  by  others 
in  search  of  the  embalmed  dead,  that  in  far- 
away countries  they  might  be  made  to  gratify 
the  curious,  or  that  the  finder  might  sell  the 
mummies  for  money.  It  is  estimated  that 
thousands,  if  not  even  a  million,  of  mummies 
have  been  exhumed  from  this  necropolis  and 
scattered  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  or  used 
locally  for  certain  purposes.  The  open,  empty 
graves  are  so  numerous  that  care  must  be  ex- 
ercised in  our  riding  lest  we  unexpectedly  fall 
into  one  of  these  open  pits.  But  I  am  glad  to 
be  able  to  say  that  at  present  the  graves  of 
Egypt  are  not  broken  into  and  robbed  of  their 
dead.  The  Egyptian  Exploration  Society 
carefully  patrols  and  guards  all  these  places 
sacred  to  antiquity,  and  what  excavation  is 
permitted  is  made  under  careful,  intelligent 
oversight  in  the  interest  of  Art,  History,  and 
Anthropology. 

Many  are  the  venders  of  relics  in  this  old 
burial-ground.  Some  of  the  antiques  may  be 
genuine,  but  some  may  have  been  made  last 
year,  or  yesterday.  And  to  the  eye  of  the 
uninitiated  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  tell  which 
are  genuine  and  which  are  spurious.    We  are 

99 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

annoyed  not  a  little  by  these  venders  hanging 
about  us  all  the  way  across  the  old  cemetery, 
wanting  to  sell  bits  of  colored  glass  and  scar- 
ahce,  found  in  the  graves  with  the  dead,  or 
small  fragments  of  old  painted  coffins  with 
hieroglyphics  quite  plainly  discernible.  One 
offers  to  sell  me  an  embalmed  hawk  (a  bird 
sacred  to  the  ancient  Eg3^ptians)  ;  but  the  ch- 
max  of  offered  articles  is  reached  when  one 
thrusts  a  complete  hand  of  a  mummy  before 
me  with  an  appeal  to  buy !  Oh,  that  hand ! 
Once  a  source  of  support  for  the  owner ;  once 
possibly  wielding  the  spear  in  defense  of  his 
king ;  once  beckoning  hope  to  some  companion 
in  distress,  or  smiting  the  offender  of  innocent 
ones;  once  kindling  joy,  hope,  and  love  by  its 
caressing  touch ; — ah,  then  it  were  no  hand  to 
despise,  it  were  no  hand  that  could  be  bought. 
But  now  after  the  stillness  and  rest  of  three 
millenniums  it  is  severed  from  the  arm  and 
offered  for  sale  to  me !  What  right  have  I  to 
that  hand,  that  repulsive,  bony  hand!  Even 
as  I  look  I  feel  as  though  that  hand  has  fast- 
ened with  a  death-grip  upon  my  anticipated 
pleasure  here.  I  shudder  and  tell  Abdul  to 
drive  away  these  people.  And  yet,  I  dare  say 
that  that  very  hand  is  now  somewhere  in  the 

100 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

home  of  a  later  tourist  gracing  (?)  his  cab- 
inet of  curios. 

But  a  happy  transition  from  this  ride  of  dis- 
agreeable surroundings  and  dismal  thoughts 
comes  to  us  when  we  reach  the  clififs  and 
round  a  large  projecting  rock  to  enter  the 
Valley  of  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings.  Here  there 
suddenly  appear  before  us  several  maidens 
about  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  each  bearing  a 
jar  of  water  on  her  head  or  shoulder.  With 
smiling  faces  and  bright,  liquid,  dark  eyes  they 
present  an  interesting  contrast  in  this  region  of 
dreary  desolation,  which  has  for  ages  been 
given  over  to  the  dead. 

They  step  lightly  out  to  meet  us  and  with 
graceful  little  courtesies  call  out  a  cheery 
"good  morning."  Then  without  awaiting  an 
invitation,  to  each  of  us  a  maiden  came  with 
protestations  of  friendly  interest,  and  offering 
a  drink  from  the  jar  she  carried.  Not  caring 
for  a  drink,  I  tried  to  make  the  maiden  who 
had  come  to  me  understand  it  so,  and  then 
urged  my  donkey  forward ;  the  maiden  also 
came.  If  I  walked  my  donkey,  she  walked 
at  my  side  with  jar  on  her  head ;  if  I  raced 
my  donkey,  the  maiden  was  still  at  my  side 
with  water  jar  still  on  her  head  and  insisting 

101 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

that  I  was  a  ''lovely  man."  I  told  my  drago- 
man to  send  her  away,  but  she  heeded  not. 
I  urged  her,  like  Naomi  of  old,  to  "return  from 
following  after  me"  to  her  rock  covert  and  to 
wait  for  a  thirsty  tourist.  But,  like  Ruth,  she 
was  disinclined  to  go  back.  And  then  with  a 
languishing  smile  that  Cleopatra,  with  all  her 
blandishments,  might  have  envied,  she  said  in 
substance,  "  'Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or 
to  return  from  following  after  thee,'  for  the 
way  is  long,  and  there  is  no  water,  and  later 
you  will  want  a  drink.  No,  I  will  not  go  back ; 
I  will  stay  with  you  all  day,  and  when  you 
want  a  drink  I  will  give  it  to  you,  for  you  are 
a  lovely  man."  Then  in  her  appealing  look, 
I  further  read,  "Don't  send  me  back ;  I  am 
poor."  Not  feeling  that  I  was  a  very  "lovely 
man"  just  then,  I  halted  my  donkey  and  said, 
"Child,  come  here  and  let  me  drink."  With 
the  jar  still  on  her  head  she  stepped  close  to 
the  donkey  and  inclining  her  head  she  tipped 
the  jar  for  me  to  drink.  Handing  her  a  small 
coin,  I  said,  "Now,  please  go  back;  I'll  not 
want  any  more  to-day ;  good  bye."  Then 
starting  off  at  a  rapid  pace,  I  was  happy  to 
find  that  she  no  longer  followed  me. 

We  are  now  enterinfr  a  narrow  passage  be- 
102 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

tween  high,  perpendicular  walls  of  rock,  which 
we  follow  in  its  windings  for  a  mile  or  two  till 
we  reach  the  terminus,  where  are  the  tombs  we 
seek.  The  passage  varies  in  width  and 
branches  out  at  several  places,  but  always,  in 
every  branch,  terminates  against  steep  walls 
of  rock.  I  am  convinced  that  all  this  so-called 
"valley"  was  dug  out  to  get  rock  for  building 
purposes,  to  be  used  in  the  massive  structures 
of  Thebes,  and  possibly  elsewhere,  and  that 
when  the  works  were  completed  and  the  quar- 
ries vacated,  then  this  great  channel  in  the 
rock  was  used  as  a  beginning-place  for  cutting 
out  deep  caverns  in  the  rocks  to  be  used  as 
sepulchers  in  which  to  bury  the  Theban  kings. 
As  we  pass  along  this  narrow  valley  I  note 
the  vast  amount  of  talus,  or  disintegrated  rock, 
that  has  accumulated  through  centuries,  piled 
at  the  bases  of  the  cliffs  on  either  side,  in 
some  places  many  feet  deep ;  and  this  is  espe= 
cially  noticeable  in  the  broadened  out  temii= 
nus.  The  ride  here  is  dreary  and  oppressive = 
There  is  not  a  breath  of  air  stirring,  no  sign 
of  vegetation,  no  song  of  bird.  The  glaring 
heat  of  a  midday  sun  in  a  cloudless  sky,  the 
oppressive  stillness,  the  heavy-sighing  silence, 
the  mockery  of  the  echoes  of  our  own  voices 

103 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

or  of  the  plodding  foot-falls  of  the  beasts  we 
ride — all  combine  to  impress  me  that  we  are 
riding  through  a  veritable  death-valley. 

In  the  terminus,  as  already  noted,  are  the 
tombs  we  seek — twenty-five  or  twenty-six  of 
them  already  known,  and  the  presence  of  more 
suspected — each  tomb  being  the  resting-place 
of  the  king  who  made  it. 

The  entrances  to  all  these  tombs  are  in  this 
artificial  valley,  at  the  bases  of  the  cliffs; 
hence  it  was  that  the  debris,  already  referred 
to,  had  hidden  for  centuries  the  walled-up  and 
sealed  doors  so  efifectually  that  their  presence 
was  lost  sight  of  and  not  even  suspected  dur- 
ing many  generations.  But  when  the  first  was 
discovered  and  its  royal  occupant  surely 
identified,  active  work  was  begun  in  search  for 
others,  until  more  than  a  score  have  been 
found  and  explored.  All  of  the  mummies 
found  in  them  have  been  taken  to  museums 
for  protection — chiefly  to  Boulak,  near  Cairo. 

We  enter  and  explore  all  of  the  important 
ones.  The  most  interesting  to  me  are  the 
Tomb  of  Sethos  I,  who  knew  Joseph ;  Rameses 
II,  who  oppressed  Israel ;  and  Manephtha,  who 
was  king  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus.  These 
tombs  are  all  on  the  same  plan.    They  are  vast 

104 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

excavations  made  in  the  soHd  rock-cHff,  with 
main  gallery  in  some  cases  ten  feet  wide  and 
twelve  feet  high  and  penetrating  the  cliff  to 
a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet.  Most  of  them 
slope  downward,  and  a  few  are  so  steep  that 
steps  cut  in  the  floor  were  necessary  in  places 
in  order  to  keep  from  slipping.  The  walls  of 
some  of  them  are  covered  with  hieroglyphics 
and  numerous  other  religious  symbols.  Some 
of  these  emblems  are  carven  in  the  rock,  while 
others  are  painted  in  bright  colors.  At  the 
extreme  end  of  the  gallery  is  the  sarcophagus, 
usually  of  fine  granite,  in  which  the  embalmed 
body  of  the  king  was  placed  at  the  conclusion 
of  his  obsequies.  It  seems  that  the  design  was 
that  here  in  his  embalmed  body,  in  his  coffin 
of  stone,  in  his  cell  in  the  everlasting  rock,  in 
his  hermetically  sealed  tomb,  his  resting-place 
should  remain  undisturbed  throughout  all  eter- 
nity. But  gold-hunters  and  relic-seekers  tore 
open  his  silent  chamber,  read  his  name,  stole 
his  gold,  profaned  his  amulets,  and  even  im- 
piously dragged  forth  his  body  to  be  a  spec- 
tacle for  the  present  and  succeeding  gener- 
ations. 

But  on  beholding  the  desolation  here,  the 
despoiled   tombs,   the  mysterious    symbols   of 

105 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

faith  and  hope  of  the  once  proud  and  haughty 
tenants  of  these  funeral  chambers,  what  fanci- 
ful figures  and  scenes  come  trooping  through 
my  mind! 

Here,  evidently,  a  few  thousand  years  ago, 
was  a  scene  of  marvelous  activity — multitudes 
quarrying  out  the  rock,  multitudes  hewing 
them  into  shape,  and  multitudes  transporting 
them  to  other  localities.  Here,  no  doubt,  la- 
bored in  great  numbers  slaves  taken  in  battle, 
labored  hard,  and  under  exacting,  cruel  mas- 
ters. Then  I  see  the  place  deserted — the 
quarry-slave  has  finished  his  work  and  is  gone. 
Time  passes.  Skilled  workmen  come  up  the 
narrow  valley,  and  having  chosen  a  spot,  be- 
gin to  cut  into  the  rock-cliff;  chamber  after 
chamber  is  finished  as  the  main  gallery  is 
pushed  forward,  until  an  amazing  depth  has 
been  reached,  and  the  excavation  is  pro- 
nounced done.  Then  I  see  carvers  at  work 
decorating  the  walls  and  ceiling;  and  the 
painter  is  here  with  his  brush.  At  last  it  is 
finished,  and  the  workmen  depart.  But  listen ! 
Borne  to  my  ear  is  the  voice  of  lamentation 
of  a  thousand  hired  mourners ;  and  now  I  see 
a  great  procession  moving  slowly  up  the  val- 
ley ;  it  is  a  scene  of  surpassing  splendor,  mag- 

106 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

nificence,  and  solemnity — an  embalmed  king 
is  being  carried  to  his  long  home  in  the  lasting, 
rock-hewn  tomb;  he  is  placed  in  his  large, 
decorated  sarcophagus  of  granite  to  lie  in  un- 
disturbed repose,  in  quiet,  peaceful  sleep, 
after  a  turbulent  reign, — after  ''life's  fitful 
fever,"  now  ended.  Then  the  door  is  closed ; 
the  very  marks  of  its  existence  are  covered  up 
or  erased.  The  people  depart ;  and  again 
there  is  oppressive  loneliness  in  the  big,  awe- 
freighted  silence  of  this  valley  of  death. 


107 


%^t  lSi^mt00t{xm  and  tSe  Sitting 
€olo00i 

Chapter  IX. 

Here  we  lunched,  sharing  our  simple  meal 
with  the  donkey-boys.  They  never  carry  food 
with  them,  even  on  an  all-day  trip;  seem 
happy  without  it,  but  still  happier  if  the  tour- 
ist can  spare  a  morsel  from  his  own  lunch. 

We  do  not  return  by  the  route  by  which  we 
reached  this  place,  but  climb  out  of  the  arti- 
ficial valley  by  a  steep,  uncertain  path  in  the 
eastern  wall,  that  by  doing  so  we  may  econo- 
mize distance  and  time.  Here  I  give  over  my 
donkey  to  the  care  of  Abdul,  and  on  foot,  I 
climb  to  the  top  of  the  ridge  and  along  its 
summit  between  the  little  valley  and  the  great 
Nile  plain.  I  should  think  that  these  heights 
range  from  four  hundred  feet  to  five  hundred 
feet  above  the  river  bed.  I  do  not  remount  my 
beast  until  I  have  descended  to  the  plain  on  the 
Nile  side  of  the  ridge.  The  descent  on  this 
side  is  fully  as  troublesome  as  the  ascent  on 
the  other  side. 

108 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Our  first  halting-place  in  the  afternoon  was 
at  the  exhumed  Temple  of  ''Der  el  Bahri." 
Just  before  reaching  this  noted  ruin  we  passed 
a  deep  well,  or  shaft,  leading  down  to  hori- 
zontal chambers  cut  in  the  rock.  This  is  called 
the  'Tomb  of  the  Priests."  We  did  not  de- 
scend into  it;  it  is  not  open  to  visitors. 

The  rear  of  the  temple  that  we  are  ap- 
proaching was  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock-cliflf, 
which  still  towers  threateningly  above  it. 
After  inspecting  the  general  features  of  this 
temple,  and  lingering  for  a  time  in  the  dark, 
mysterious,  little  sanctuary,  for  whose  exist- 
ence all  other  parts  of  the  magnificent  struc- 
ture were  to  bear  testimony,  and  to  add  dignity 
and  confusion  to  its  mystery,  vv^e  mount  our 
donkeys  to  proceed  to  the  "Ramesseum," 
which  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  finest  of 
fine  temples  in  all  Eg}^pt. 

And  now,  having  previously  stated  that  the 
general  plan  of  all  Egyptian  temples  was  the 
same,  it  is  proper  that  I  give  that  plan.  To  do 
so  I  quote  one  who  wrote  of  them  many  cen- 
turies ago,  but  whose  description  is  practically 
an  accurate  one.  I  refer  to  Strabo,  who,  as 
quoted  in  an  article  in  ''Scribner's"  some  years 
ago,  says :  *'The  arrangement  of  the  parts  of 

109 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

an  Egyptian  temple  is  as  follows :  In  a  line 
with  the  entrance  to  the  sacred  enclosure,  is 
a  paved  road  or  avenue,  about  a  hundred  feet 
in  breadth ;  and  in  length,  from  three  to  four 
hundred  feet,  or  even  more.  This  is  called  the 
dromos.  Through  the  whole  length  of  the 
dromos  and  on  each  side  of  it,  sphinxes  are 
placed  at  the  distance  of  thirty  feet  from  one 
another,  or  even  more,  forming  a  double  row, 
one  on  each  side.  After  the  sphinxes  you 
come  to  the  large  propylseum  (which  consists 
of  two  obtuse  pyramids,  enclosing  between 
them  the  principal  gate,  to  form  a  grand  en- 
trance). And  as  you  advance  you  come  to 
another  and  to  a  third  after  that;  for  no  def- 
inite number  of  either  propylae  or  sphinxes  is 
required  in  the  plan,  but  they  vary  in  different 
temples  as  to  their  number  as  well  as  to  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  dromos.  After  the 
propylseum,  we  come  to  the  temple  itself, 
which  is  always  a  large  and  handsome  pro- 
naos,  or  portico,  and  a  sekos,  or  cella  (a  place 
in  which  the  heathen  images  are  usually  kept), 
of  only  moderate  dimensions,  with  no  image 
in  it ;  at  least  not  one  of  human  shape,  but  some 
representation  of  a  brute  animal.  On  each 
side  of  the  pronaos  are  wings  of  equal  height, 

110 


C£ 


STi\0 


I  11   I  I 


L]L 


O  .      O  O      o 

o       o  e>     C 


O      O  O        O 

0      o         o      o 


0    o  c     o        e     o 

®    *     H>/POSTYt-E 
0    0    0     O       ,  d      0 

HALL 
O    o   o    o        ^      ^ 


(• 


2  OP4  3 


o  o 

o  c 

O  0 

o  o 

O  0 


o  a  o 


O  0 

o  o 


O      o     0 

0    D  0 

&0    0 


O     ^  0      O 

0  o       oBcoNO  Couar 

Osiris  ftnLAns  ^     ^    f^    i\ 


O  0 
0  t 
0   o 


The    Ramesseum 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

but  their  width  is  somewhat  more  than  the 
breadth  of  the  temple  measured  along  its  base- 
ment line.  This  width  of  the  wings,  however, 
gradually  diminishes  from  the  bottom  to  the 
top.  The  walls  have  sculptured  forms  on  them 
of  a  large  size,  like  Tyrrhedian  figures,  and 
the  ancient  Greek  works  of  the  same  class." 

This  explanation,  together  with  the  ground- 
plan  sketch  made  especially  for  this  story  of 
my  visit  and  here  inserted,  will  help  us  in  our 
study  of  the  "Ramesseum." 

As  we  approach  the  main  entrance  I  note 
that  the  dromos,  or  avenue  of  sphinxes,  has 
disappeared ;  but  the  pylon  is  here.  The  py- 
lons of  the  temples  of  Egypt  were  what  the 
Greeks  called  "gates" ;  so  we  must  under- 
stand that,  when  they  speak  of  "hundred- 
gated"  Thebes,  they  do  not  mean  that  a  hun- 
dred gates  pierced  a  surrounding  wall  of  the 
city,  but  that  before  the  many  temples  there 
were,  in  aggregation,  a  hundred  pylons,  or 
gates,  through  which  the  worshipers  passed 
in  their  religious  devotions. 

This  pylon,  which  was  originally  a  massive 
wall  in  thickness  and  had  a  breadth  of  220 
feet,  is  fairly  well  preserved.  On  the  inner 
side  of  the  division  of  the  pylon  northeast  of 

112 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

the  gateway  through  it  is  an  elaborate  carven 
representation  of  an  Egyptian  camp;  and  on 
the  inner  side  of  the  other  half  is  the  cele- 
brated story,  in  hieroglyphics,  of  the  "battle 
of  Kadesh" — an  inscription  of  interest  to  Bible 
students. 

After  looking  at  these  inscriptions,  I  ob- 
serve that  the  large  first  court,  in  which  we 
stand,  is  in  ruins — fallen  pillars  and  broken 
statues  lie  scattered  all  about  us ;  however,  on 
our  left  a  double  row  of  columns  yet  stand 
in  their  original  places.  Near  the  second  py- 
lon, one-half  of  which  is  almost  completely 
torn  away,  is  the  great,  fallen  statue  of  Ram- 
eses  II,  the  founder  of  this  temple.  We  shall 
now  pass  through  the  gate  of  the  second  pylon 
into  the  second  court.  Here,  on  the  right  in- 
side pylon-surface,  is  a  further  inscription  of 
the  "battle  of  Kadesh."  Each  side  of  this 
court  has  a  double  row  of  columns ;  the  front 
has  a  row  of  Osiris  pillars ;  the  rear  has  a  row 
of  Osiris  pillars,  and  on  a  terrace  back  of  them 
a  row  of  columns  like  those  along  the  sides, 
and  just  in  front  of  the  rear  row  of  Osiris 
pillars  are  two  colossal  statues  of  the  Great 
Rameses. 

Passing  through  the  third  pylon,  on  the  in- 
113 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

ner  surface  of  which  is  the  hieroglyphiced 
story  of  the  ''battle  of  Zophar,"  we  are  in  the 
bewildering  Great  Hypostyle  Hall,  a  court 
that  was  filled  with  forty-eight  massive  pillars 
standing  in  even-spaced  arrangement  over  the 
entire  floor-area  of  this  division  of  the  temple. 
Passing  through  this  forest  of  columns  and 
on  through  the  fourth  pylon  we  enter  a  small 
Hypostyle  Hall,  and  again  farther  on,  another 
small,  similar  hall.  Here  numerous,  unlighted, 
mysterious  cells  are  clustered  about,  in  one  of 
which  was  the  sacred  altar  where  ministered 
the  mysterious  priest  in  the  propagation  of  his 
mysterious  religion. 

On  coming  back  to  one  of  the  large  courts, 
Captain  Abraham,  while  we  were  examining 
the  workmanship  displayed  on  one  of  the  beau- 
tiful pillars,  placed  his  cane  against  it.  Imme- 
diately the  temple-custodian  rushed  forward 
and  pushed  away  the  stick,  exclaiming  in 
broken  English,  "It  is  forbidden;  you  must 
not ;  oh,  the  mark  !  they  beat  me  when  they  see 
this !"  The  mark  was  scarcely  discernible,  but 
it  seemed  plain  to  him.  He  gathered  up  his 
flowing  robe  and  began  removing  the  supposed 
defacing  mark.  While  the  past  tells  a  sad 
story   of   vandalism,    such   destructiveness   is 

114 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

scarcely  possible  now,  so  careful  is  the  watch 
maintained  by  the  Egyptian  Exploration  So- 
ciety. 

But,  again  in  the  first  court,  let  us  tarry  a 
moment  at  the  great,  fallen  statue  of  Ram- 
eses  II.  It  was  a  colossal  sitting  statue,  ex- 
quisitely carved  out  of  a  reddish  granite;  but 
by  some  powerful  means  it  has  been  over- 
thrown and  shattered  into  fragments  ;  however, 
the  huge  trunk  and  face  remain  practically 
uninjured.  To  give  some  idea  of  its  colos- 
sal size,  I  here  note  a  few  of  its  measurements. 
In  height  it  was  fifty-seven  and  a-half  feet ; 
the  length  of  its  ear  was  three  and  a-half  feet ; 
the  circumference  of  its  arm  at  the  elbow  was 
seventeen  and  a-half  feet ;  the  diameter  of  its 
arm  above  the  elbow  was  four  and  three- 
fourths  feet;  the  length  of  its  index  finger  was 
three  and  one-fifth  feet;  the  length  of  the  nail 
on  the  middle  finger  was  seven  and  a-half 
inches ;  the  breadth  of  this  nail  was  six  inches ; 
the  breadth  of  the  foot  across  the  toes  was 
four  and  a-half  feet,  etc. 

The  statue  lies  with  face  upward.  I  climb 
upon  the  huge  body  by  means  of  steps  cut  into 
the  shoulder,  and,  standing  on  the  breast,  I 
look  down  into  the  face, — a  stone  face,  yet 

115 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

scarcely  harder  than  the  face  of  which  it  is 
the  counterpart.  Rameses  is  not  here;  mil- 
lenniums ago  the  mortal  man  perished.  The 
mummy  of  Rameses  is  not  here;  for  centuries 
it  slept  in  its  great  cavern-tomb,  then  it  was 
found  and  hidden  in  a  secret  cavern  at  Der 
el  Bahri,  where  within  the  last  century  it  was 
discovered  and  taken  to  the  Boulak  Museum, 
where  any  visitor  to  Egypt  may  look  upon 
the  well-recognized  features.  But  here  I  stand 
upon  this  colossal  effigy  of  Egypt's  greatest 
warrior — her  greatest  king.  It  is  generally 
conceded  that  this  is  the  effigy  of  the  Pharaoh 
that  oppressed  Israel  until  in  their  anguish 
they  turned  their  faces  toward  the  God  of  the 
skies  for  dehverance.  And  here,  after  stain- 
ing so  many  pages  of  history  with  blood  spilled 
by  his  decrees,  in  these  quiet  after-centuries, 
he  lies,  in  his  image,  staring  wide-eyed  day 
and  night  into  the  same  sky  from  which  Is- 
rael's deliverance  came.  Can  his  immortal 
spirit,  "in  the  pale  realms  of  shade,"  have 
similar  hope  of  deliverance  from  the  lashings 
of  the  Furies  whose  vengeance  seems  never 
satisfied ! 

It  now  seems  so  like  standing  on  a  real,  suf- 
fering man,  and,  tyrant  though  he  was,  I  seem 

116 


The   Silting   Colossi. 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

to  pity  him,  and,  lest  I  hurt,  I  quickly  climb 
down  from  my  place  of  meditations  on  his 
breast. 

Somewhat  nearer  the  Nile  and  farther  up 
stream  are  the  Sitting  Colossi  of  Memnon. 
This  name  simply  means  that  these  are  seated 
statues  of  enormous  size  of  Amenophis  IV. 
That  they  are  colossal  is  plain  from  the  fol- 
lowing dimensions,  which  apply,  approxi- 
mately, to  both — (there  are  two  of  them)  : 
their  height  is  fifty-two  feet ;  the  height  of  their 
pedestals  is  thirteen  feet;  the  length  of  their 
legs  from  their  knees  to  the  soles  of  their  feet 
is  nineteen  and  a-half  feet ;  the  length  of  their 
feet  is  ten  and  a-half  feet ;  the  length  of  their 
middle  fingers  is  four  and  a-half  feet ;  from  the 
tips  of  their  fingers  to  their  elbows  the  length 
is  fifteen  and  a-half  feet,  etc.  The  entire 
weight  of  one  colossus  and  its  pedestal  is  esti- 
mated at  1,175  tons. 

Here  these  images  have  been  sitting  side  by 
side  in  places  never  vacated  by  them  since 
1400  B.C.,  facing  the  Nile  and  the  farther  east. 
The  faces  of  both  have  been  mutilated.  The 
pedestals  bear  inscriptions  of  persons  who  vis- 
ited them  fully  two  thousand  years  ago. 

The  northern  statue  is  called  the  "Vocal 
117 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Memnon,"  from  the  fact  that  in  the  early  cen- 
turies of  its  existence  it  was  frequently  heard 
to  give  forth  from  its  crown  at  sunrise  rich 
musical  strains  like  the  twanging  of  harp 
strings.  Scientists  do  not  dispute  the  possi- 
bility of  such  a  phenomenon,  and  the  testimony 
of  reliable  persons  who  claim  to  have  heard  it 
almost  establishes  it  as  a  fact  of  history.  But 
centuries  ago  an  earthquake,  or  some  other 
great  disturbance,  threw  down  its  upper  half, 
and  when,  many  years  later,  it  was  restored,  it 
was  found  that  the  song  had  been  forever 
hushed. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  these  statues  were 
in  the  midst  of  a  swampy  tract  of  land  where 
wheat  was  already  springing  in  a  good  growth. 
We  ride  all  around  them,  tarrying  long  enough 
in  their  great  shadows  cast  by  the  westering 
sun,  for  the  immensity  of  these  silent,  giant 
watchers  of  the  plain  to  overawe  us.  Then 
looking  at  the  ruins  to  be  seen  in  the  distance 
at  almost  all  points  of  the  compass,  and  again 
at  the  miles  of  tomb-hollowed  mountains,  I  am 
satisfied.  We  take  our  way  across  the  fertile 
plain  toward  Luxor  for  the  night. 

Farmers  are  busy  everywhere.  Captain 
Abraham  is  not  only  interested  in  their  plow- 

118 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

ing,  but  dismounts  and  insists  on  trying  it 
himself.  When  the  natives  understand,  they 
cheerfully  consent  to  let  him  try.  He  draws 
two  furrows,  but  with  only  moderate  success ; 
the  plow  is  too  clumsy  and  the  camel-heifer 
team  is  too  uncertain. 

We  hurry  on  toward  the  Nile  crossing. 
''Rameses"  stumbles  again,  and  this  time  my 
friend  does  not  escape  so  v/ell,  as  is  proven  by 
a  large,  transverse  rent  in  one  knee  of  his 
trousers.  He  laughs  at  his  misfortune ;  but 
in  the  absence  of  feminine  hands  to  make  re- 
pairs, he  carries  for  days  the  mark  of  his  fall 
in  a  rent  emphasized  by  an  unsuccessful  effort 
upon  his  part  to  fix  it. 

At  Luxor  I  linger  awhile  at  sunset  and 
in  the  fading  after-glow  by  the  ruins  of  its 
famous  Temple,  and  then  I  retire  to  wander  in 
dream-vision  through  a  land  whose  Elysian 
plains  and  fair  hillsides  are  not  marked  with 
a  single  tomb ;  to  look  upon  a  splendor  and  a 
magnificence  never  seen  here  in  the  palmiest 
days  of  Egypt's  glory  and  renown  ;  to  hear  the 
sweet  notes  of  a  song  never  sung  by  Egypt's 
priesthood ;  and  to  bathe  in  a  light  diviner  far 
than  ever  rested  on  Egypt's  proudest  obelisk, 
temple,  or  pyramid. 

119 


l&arnafe  and  JLmot 

Chapter  X. 

We  have  yet  to  see  the  ruins  that  are  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  the  most  noted  of  which 
are  at  Karnak  and  Luxor.  At  7 :  30  o'clock  in 
the  morning  our  boys  and  donkeys  of  yester- 
day are  ready  for  us.  Our  plan  is  to  ride 
north  to  Karnak,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles, 
and  spend  tl:j«  first  half  of  the  day  in  inspect- 
ing the  ruins  of  its  temple,  and  then  to  return 
to  Luxor  to  devote  the  afternoon  to  a  study 
of  the  ruins  of  its  magnificent  fane. 

Astride  "Thotmes"  I  found  the  early  morn- 
ing ride  one  of  delight,  the  only  annoying  fea- 
ture of  it  being  that  the  boys  thought  our  gait 
entirely  too  slow,  and  they  would  occasionally 
try  to  improve  upon  it  by  suddenly  whipping 
the  donkeys,  and  the  suddenness  of  their  at- 
tacks nearly  caused  the  unseating  of  me  a  few 
times.  Finally,  we  told  Abdul  that  we  would 
hold  him  responsible  for  any  repetition  of  that 
objectionable  feature  of  our  ride.  There  was 
no  repetition  of  it  after  that. 

120 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

And  now  we  pass  through  groves  of  palm 
trees,  and  a  little  later  we  are  among  the  na- 
tives who  are  busy  at  their  work  and  appar- 
ently happy.  On  this  ride  I  have  a  good  op- 
portunity to  learn  what  Egyptian  rural  life  is. 

On  reaching  Karnak  our  way  leads  through 
a  forest  of  palm  trees,  and  then  along  an  ave- 
nue of  colossal  ram's-headed  sphinxes.  These 
sphinxes  are  much  mutilated,  but  some  are  yet 
sufficientl}^  complete  for  us  to  know  full  well 
of  what  they  were  images.  We  next  pass 
through  a  magnificent  and  well-preserved  gate- 
way of  granite,  with  the  symbol  of  the 
"winged  sun"  above  the  arch,  and  are  within 
the  area  of  what,  in  many  respects,  is  the 
greatest  ruin  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  Temple  of  Amon,  the  greatest  single 
ruin  here,  faces  the  Nile  and  the  Temple  of 
Kurnah,  which  I  have  m.entioned  as  being  on 
the  west  side  of  the  river.  Between  the  Nile 
and  the  entrance  in  the  great  pylon  is  a  dromos 
with  a  row  of  ram's-headed  sphinxes,  recently 
restored,  on  each  side.  This  great  edifice  ex- 
tends 1,200  feet  from  northwest  to  southeast, 
and  has  a  width  of  340  feet,  and  the  area  occu- 
pied  is  more  than  one  and  a-half  times   as 

121 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

much  as  that  occupied  by  St.  Peter's  at  Rome, 
the  largest  church  in  Christendom. 

We  shall  approach  this  temple  through  the 
avenue  leading  from  the  river.  At  a  short  dis- 
tance we  come  to  the  first  pylon,  isolated  from 
and  standing  as  a  great  protecting  screen  for 
all  beyond  it.  It  is  indeed  great.  It  has  a 
length  of  four  hundred  feet,  a  thickness  of 
forty  feet,  and  a  towering  height  of  eighty 
feet.  I  climb  to  the  top  to  get  a  panoramic 
view  of  the  region  round  about.  From  my 
strategic  point  of  observation  I  can  look  down 
into  courts  once  filled  with  incense  offered  to 
the  gods,  and  embellished  with  the  glamour 
of  a  world-conquering  empire,  but  now  so 
empty,  so  desolate ! 

I  cannot  understand  the  special  office  of 
each  pylon,  hall,  statue,  or  inscription,  but 
when  I  remember  that  the  chief  elements  of 
the  creed  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  were  sol- 
emnity, seclusion,  mystery,  and  perpetuity,  I 
can  then  see  clearly  that  in  his  architectural 
constructions  he  builded  so  as  to  secure  them 
all. 

I  also  note  that  the  work  of  excavation  in 
parts  of  the  area  is  still  going  on.  But  the 
original  builders  are  gone;  they  ceased  from 

122 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

toil  and  were  ferried  across  that  rolling 
stream  yonder,  and  beyond,  in  that  vast  city  of 
the  dead,  they  took  up  their  abode  with  the 
multitude  that  never  came  back  here  to  build, 
to  wonder,  or  to  worship. 

Climbing  down  from  the  pylon,  I  pass 
through  the  first  great  court,  now  completely 
in  ruins,  up  a  flight  of  a  few  steps  between 
two  colossal  seated  statues,  through  the  second 
great  pylon,  and  into  the  Hypostyle  Hall — the 
marvel  of  the  world  in  temple-court  embellish- 
ment. 

Through  this  hall  the  main  passage  leads 
between  two  rows  of  twelve  massive  columns 
each, — each  column  being  nearly  eighty  feet 
high  and  thirty-six  feet  in  circumference ;  and, 
placed  in  regular  order,  equidistant  from  each 
other,  are  122  other  columns,  nearly  as  large, 
and  all,  or  many  of  them,  covered  from  base  to 
top  of  capital  with  hieroglyphics.  The  effect 
produced  by  the  size  and  arrangement  of  these 
columns  is  most  bewildering,  indeed. 

Then  follow  further  investigations.  The 
numerous  pylons,  the  Hypostyle  Hall,  the  sev- 
eral obelisks,  the  many  statues,  the  inscription- 
covered  walls  and  pillars — all  combine  to  beget 
a  sense  of  solemn  awe  in  the  beholder.    Any 

123 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

word-description  here  is  so  impotent  and  in- 
sufficient that  it  seems  almost  Hke  sacrilege 
to  attempt  it.  ''When  we  contemplate  the  mys- 
terious religion  to  which  this  mighty  fane  was 
dedicated,  and  the  lofty  civilization  of  the  peo- 
ple who  reared  such  a  sublime  edifice,  the  mind 
is  strained  and  the  senses  are  confounded." 

I  quote  further  from  the  writer  of  the  sen- 
tence just  used,  who  in  a  meditative  mood 
exclaims :  "What  changes  has  the  world — 
what  changes  has  Karnak  seen  since  the  con- 
struction of  this  marvel  of  architecture ! 
Mighty  armies ;  strong  kings ;  lovely  queens 
have  sauntered  through  these  halls !  Even 
Cambyses,  the  wild  destroyer  and  fanatic, 
reined  in  his  chariot  horses  here  to  wonder  and 
admire.  Hither  came  Rameses  II.  after  his 
return  from  the  war  with  the  Khetahs.  Here 
he  received  the  approval  of  the  gods,  the  wel- 
come of  his  priests,  and  the  loud  huzzas  of  his 
people !  The  Ptolemies,  the  Caesars,  the  armies 
of  Napoleon  have  all  here  visited,  marveled, 
and  applauded.  Now  the  hooting  of  the  owl, 
the  screech  of  the  vulture,  and  the  'back- 
sheesh' of  the  Arab  are  the  only  sounds  that 
break  the  silence  of  Karnak." 

124 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

I  now  pass  without  the  temple  where  in  one 
place  on  the  external  surface  of  the  temple- 
wall  I  see  the  celebrated  *'Shishak"  inscription 
— of  special  interest  to  bibHcal  scholars,  since 
it  gives  the  names  of  many  places  in  Palestine 
and  Syria  that  were  conquered  by  the  Egyp- 
tian kings.  Of  course,  I  cannot  read  it,  but 
I  can  understand  the  significance  of  some  of 
the  carven  pictures. 

Through  a  long  avenue  of  sphinxes  that  lies 
near  two  well  preserved,  sacred  lakes,  I  ride 
on  to  the  "Temple  of  Mut,"  which  was  once 
much  adorned  with  ape-faced  statues.  When 
I  have  finished  investigating  this  place,  my 
sight-seeing  at  Karnak  is  ended.  We  return 
to  Luxor  for  lunch. 

The  Temple  of  Luxor  varies  somewhat,  in 
plan,  from  those  already  described — enough  to 
necessitate  a  brief  notice  of  it  here  before  I 
leave  this  city  of  ancient  renown. 

This  temple  certainly  ranks  next  to  Karnak, 
(with  which  at  one  time  it  was  connected  by 
an  avenue  guarded  by  a  thousand  sphinxes), 
among  the  ruins  that  I  have  seen  in  Egypt. 
The  main  entrance  is  on  the  northern  side. 
By  this  entrance  stood  two  beautiful  obelisks, 
only  one  of  which  remains.     (The  other  may 

125 


T^LOhl 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

now  be  seen  in  Paris.)  In  front  of  the  pylon 
were  also  several  gigantic  statues  of  Rameses 
11. 

The  general  direction  of  this  temple  was  not 
along  an  axial  line,  like  all  others  were.  It 
was  in  greatest  length,  207  yards  ;  and  in  great- 
est breadth  it  was  60  yards.  The  first  court, 
that  of  Rameses  II,  was  of  rhomboidal  shape, 
and  excelled  in  the  splendor  if  its  adornment. 
This  court  is  surrounded  with  a  double  row  of 
well-preserved  columns,  which  for  size  and 
beauty  rank  well  with  any  others  I  have  seen 
in  Egypt,  and  between  each  pair  of  columns 
is  a  colossal  statute  of  the  great  Rameses. 
On  the  exterior  side  of  the  wall  of  this  court 
is  inscribed  the  so-called  "Poem  of  Pentaur." 
From  the  court  in  which  we  stand  a  grand 
colonnade  of  fourteen  exceptionally  large  and 
beautiful  columns  leads  to  a  second  court,  that 
of  Amenophis  III.,  with  its  double  row  of  sur- 
rounding columns ;  then  on  to  a  hall  of  pillars, 
and  farther  on  through  a  chapel  and  chambers 
until,  finally,  the  Sanctuary  of  Alexander  the 
Great  is  reached. 

Retracing  our  steps  through  these  loud- 
speaking,  though  death-stilled  chambers,  and 
passing  out  by  the  grand  entrance-way,  we 

127 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

stand  for  a  moment  on  the  banks  of  the  Sacred 
River,  and  then  hurry  in  the  late  evening  to 
the  train  that  is  to  carry  us  back  to  Cairo.  On 
board  the  train,  in  the  later  evening,  while  the 
roseate  west  is  changing  into  the  somber 
shades  of  mourning,  and  while  there  loom  up 
out  of  the  gathering  gloom  the  massive  ruins 
of  a  grandeur  that  once  was,  a  sad,  poetic  sen- 
timent akin  to  that  which  inspired  the  follow- 
ing lines  vibrated  in  my  life : 

"Thebes  was  a  city  of  a  thousand  years 
Ere  Homer  harped  his  wars ;  yet  on  her  plain 
Crumbling,  the  riven  monument  appears. 
To  mourn  that  glory  ne'er  returns  again. 

"She  dreams  no  dream  of  greatness  now,  doth 

mourn 
No  dim-remembered  past — dominion,  hope, 
And  conquest's  ardor  long  have  ceased  to  burn ; 
Where  ruthless  Cambyses  her  warriors  smote, 
Her  horsemen,  columns,  gates,  together  lie 
And  moulder  into  elemental  clay ; 
Yet  who  shall  tread  her  grave  without  a  sigh, 
Nor  wish  to  breathe  her  being  into  day — 
Upon  her  fields  revive  great  Karnak's  bold  ar- 


ray! 


128 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

•'But  now  she  is  a  lone,  deserted  one — 

The  tears  of  Niobe  are  hers,  for  she 

Has  lost  her   children — fate  they  could  not 

shun 
Or  from  the  shafts  of  stern  Latona  flee. 

"Ah,  Thebes,  how  fallen  now !     Thy    storied 

gates 
Resistless  all !    Where  sweeps  the  Nile's  swift 

wave, 
Relentless  sands  embattling,  thou  awaitest 
Thy  final  sepulture  and  the  gathering  grave/' 

Then  night  fell,  and  with  the  onward  rush 
of  the  train  I  gave  attention  to  my  more  im- 
mediate surroundings. 


129 


Chapter  XL 

The  ride  of  that  night  brought  little  of 
comfort  or  pleasure.  We  were  crowded;  the 
air  was  chill;  the  natives  smoked  to  excess; 
the  boisterous  confusion  was  great  at  times, 
once  even  leading  to  a  fistic  encounter  in  the 
forward  end  of  the  car.  But  when  morning 
dawned  a  stupid  drowsiness  prevailed,  and 
passengers  were  to  be  seen  lying  in  all  sorts 
of  ludicrous  positions— some  were  even  lying 
flat  on  the  dusty,  filthy  floor. 

It  was  a  happy  transition  that  I  experienced 
when  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  stepped 
out  of  the  foul-smelling  car  into  the  fresh,  per- 
fume-laden atmosphere  of  Cairo. 

And  now  our  sight-seeing  by  the  overflow- 
ing Nile  is  ended.  Our  boat  will  leave  Alex- 
andria to-morrow  afternoon.  Happy  thought ! 
I  am  going  home !  I  spend  my  remaining 
hours  in  Cairo  in  completing  my  arrangements 
for  leaving  Egypt.  A  calm,  quiet,  indescrib- 
able, satisfying  peace  has  filled  my  heart  and 

130 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

t^ken  possession, of  me.  I  feel  almost  intoxi- 
cated at  the  thought  of  the  supreme  success 
of  my  long  tarrying  in  lands  toward  which  my 
eyes  have  turned  in  steady  longing  since  the 
early  days  of  my  childhood.  But  the  toil,  the 
privation,  the  anxiety  are  ended.  I  am  going 
home!  Only  he  who  has  lingered  where  his 
own  language  is  scarcely  heard,  where  the 
exalted  privileges  of  his  own  government  are 
denied  him,  and  where  the  consolingly  sweet 
influences  of  his  home  are  lacking,  can  in  any 
degree  appreciate  what  joy,  what  rapture  filled 
my  life  at  the  thought  that  at  last  my  long 
cherished  ambitions  were  gratified,  and  that 
now,  with  honor  unsullied,  I  could  go  home. 

At  half-past  seven  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
after  an  exciting  experience  in  the  jostling 
crowd  of  people,  some  of  whom  were  even 
resorting  to  blows  in  order  to  be  first  to  reach 
the  ticket-window,  and  two  of  whom  were 
rudely  beaten  back  by  the  depot  guards,  I 
secure  my  ticket  and  board  the  train  for  Alex- 
andria. 

The  ride  of  four  and  three-fourths  hours' 
duration  is  through  the  delightful  and  fertile 
Delta.  As  we  near  Alexandria,  forests  of  date- 
palm,   with  their  yellow  clusters  of  ripening 

131 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

fruit,  present  a  scene  of  beauty  of  an  unusuai 
kind  to  me. 

We  complete  our  arrangements  for  sailing, 
and  then,  though  we  have  yet  several  hours 
before  our  vessel  will  clear  port,  we  are  told 
not  to  go  from  the  wharf,  as  the  place  is  under 
quarantine  because  of  the  existence  here  of 
several  cases  of  bubonic  plague. 

At  five  o'clock  the  vessel  is  loosed  from  her 
moorings  and  we  make  our  way  slowly  out  of 
port  to  the  great,  open  sea.  At  sunset,  and 
on  into  the  purpling  twilight,  and  on  into  the 
darkness  of  the  night  I  stand  on  the  rear  deck, 
looking  back  in  the  clear  evening  light;  look- 
ing back  in  the  increasing  mist-laden  gloom ; 
and  still  looking  back  when  night  settles  down 
in  all  its  dense  darkness.  A  thousand  city 
lights,  it  seems  to  me,  flash  out  their  beams 
across  the  harbor  bar  to  signal  farewell  to  me. 
These  go  out,  one  by  one,  until  the  beacon  of 
the  great  lighthouse  alone  is  seen.  It  fades, 
steadily  fades,  and,  then, — is  gone. 

The  vessel  is  now  very  perceptibly  under  the 
influence  of  the  swelling  of  the  great  sea;  so 
I  think  my  "good  by"  to  the  land  of  "the 
Overflowing  Nile,''  and  pass  to  greater  safety 
within. 

132 


By  The  Overflowing  Nile 

Farewell,  Egypt!  Land  of  long-ago  great- 
ness; land  of  the  Pharoahs'  pride;  land  of 
Abraham's  sin;  land  of  Joseph's  exaltation; 
land  of  Israel's  bondage ;  land  of  the  miracle- 
attended  Exodus;  land  of  refuge  for  the  in- 
fant Messiah.  Yours  is  indeed  a  long  and  in- 
teresting histor}^  Much  of  your  best  lies 
buried  in  the  sand ;  but  a  new  era  is  dawning 
for  you.  Drop  the  binding  and  blinding  tenets 
of  Mohammed ;  accept  the  freedom  of  the 
Christ;  tear  the  lattices  from  the  windows  of 
your  houses,  the  veils  from  the  faces  of  your 
women,  and  the  heavier  veils  from  your  hearts ; 
and  the  valley  of  the  Nile  shall  forget  her 
rivers  of  blood  and  buried  greatness  and  be 
transformed  into  a  land  of  verdant  beauty, 
and  be  filled  with  the  fragrance  of  sweet 
praises  to  the  Redeemer  of  mankind. 


133 


iiiii 


^iillimilll 


I 


